Unless something drastic happens in the next week, the absolute latest Ben Simmons will be picked in the NBA Draft is No. 2. The Philadelphia 76ers will either take him or Brandon Ingram at No. 1, and the Los Angeles Lakers will take the other one in the second spot. Some believe he’s trying to force his way to the Lakers, even as he’s insisted that he’s fine playing in Philadelphia. So it’s impossible not to read into this picture he just tweeted with last year’s No. 2 overall pick to the Lakers, D’Angelo Russell.
https://twitter.com/BenSimmons25/status/743204657477091328
Leading up to the draft, Simmons has refused to work out for both the Sixers and the Lakers — or anyone else. It’s exactly the right approach for someone in his shoes. This draft is generally recognized to be a two-player class in terms of sure-thing prospects, and he’s one of them. He has nothing to gain and everything to lose from working out for any team. If he goes No. 1 to Philadelphia, he gets the higher contract slot and the cache that comes with being the top pick. If he goes No. 2 to the Lakers, he gets the big market and spotlight that he wants. He’s not going to slip any lower than that. If he has a bad workout and word gets out, one of those teams could talk themselves into Jamal Murray or Dragan Bender or Kris Dunn instead, and then he falls out of the top two. There’s no upside to giving teams more to work with when his situation as it stands right now has no losing outcome for him.
But, from all indications, he’d love it if the Sixers took Ingram, and this picture with Russell does nothing to dispel that.
