When the Philadelphia 76ers got knocked out of the second round of the playoffs by the Atlanta Hawks having twice blown massive second-half leads, there was a sense that some significant changes could be on the way. Team president Daryl Morey has never been shy about making big swings with a roster, particularly when it’s clear that something isn’t working.
The Joel Embiid-Ben Simmons pairing has long had its doubters, who had been quieted by a tremendous regular season effort but were awakened with the postseason struggles of Simmons offensively. His continued refusal to assert himself as a scoring force became the focal point of Philly’s playoff failure, even if there is plenty of blame to be passed around, and as such there was an immediate push from many Sixers fans to breakup the young All-Star duo by trading Simmons and trying to officially build around Embiid.
It appears that Morey concurs with that public sentiment, as The Athletic’s Shams Charania brought word on Tuesday morning that the Sixers have opened up the phone lines and are engaging on Simmons trade talks, although they are keeping the asking price, understandably, high.
The 76ers have opened up trade conversations surrounding Simmons and have engaged with teams, sources told The Athletic. Those sources also say that teams that have engaged with the 76ers about Simmons have been met with a high price threshold for the three-time All-Star.
“(The 76ers) want an All-Star-caliber player in return,” one source with knowledge of the ongoing talks said.
The asking price of an All-Star caliber player shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone given that Simmons himself is a three-time All-Star. The “caliber” part is also interesting and opens up the opportunity for someone like Portland’s CJ McCollum to be the centerpiece of a trade as someone who’s never made an All-Star team, but certainly could in the East given his productivity.
At this point, a Simmons trade feels more likely than not to happen, it’s just a matter of what team blinks first in terms of putting up an aggressive offer for the 25-year-old. Someone is going to believe they can be the team that can unlock his full potential, because his talent is too immense for at least one organization not to be enamored by the prospects of adding him and thinking their culture and their staff can get him to be his best self, which could be a dominant force in the league.
