The Ben Simmons saga continues in Philadelphia. He is currently sitting out of team activities. He is holding out waiting for a trade. This is getting more serious as the 76ers are not paying him $8.25 million that he was due as ramifications to his holdout per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
There are 6 NBA teams that have shown persistent interest in trading for Ben Simmons.
With a trade likely to happen these seem like some decent options for Simmons to get a fresh start. The only issue is what will the 76ers receive in return. His trade value is all going down by the minute. Teams know that he is serious about sitting out and because of that, the 76ers are not in control of the situation.
That opens the door for teams like the Timberwolves who are an attractive landing spot for Simmons but have less to offer. They now have a chance to trade for Simmons while keeping Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards, and potentially DeAngelo Russell on the team. A third team would likely need to be involved as Timberwolves beat writer Dane Moore explained on Twitter.
“When people say there would need to be a third team in a hypothetical Ben Simmons-to-Minnesota trade, yes, it’s about Philly wanting win-now pieces. But a big part is financial. For example, DLo + Beasley make $45M while Simmons makes $33M. PHI is already $8M over the tax line.”
The Timberwolves would instantly benefit from Simmons’s all-star caliber defense and this would make them a top team in the west. Especially if Anthony Edwards continues to develop at the pace he did last season.
This will be the biggest game-changer to keep an eye on before the season starts as it is sure to shake things up at some point. Expect something to happen relatively soon because it is hard to imagine the 76ers wanting to keep a negative floating around longer than they need to.
