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We’ve been hearing about Ben Simmons trade rumors for a while now, since the Philadelphia 76ers lost in the second round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs, basically. Finally, it seems, we have a somewhat lengthy list of interested teams, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania. Check out the teams below, some aren’t surprising and some are a bit new to the eye:
New York Knicks
Los Angeles Lakers
Portland Trail Blazers
Sacramento Kings
Cleveland Cavaliers
Indiana Pacers
Minnesota Timberwolves
We can break down each team individually, but that would take a while. The Blazers, Pacers and Kings seem to have been linked to Simmons previously. We’ve always known the Knicks and Lakers would potentially be in on Simmons, but not much has been reported there. Simmons makes a lot of sense in New York, and we’ve seen that sentiment thrown around in the media before. The Cavaliers and Timberwolves are two interesting teams who haven’t been talked about as much. The Kings, Pacers and Blazers simply have similar roster issues or players they are trying to offload.
The Knicks and Lakers are both struggling so far this season and could look to make a big move to get back into contention. The Knicks have more appealing assets than the Lakers, though L.A. could opt to end the Russell Westbrook era early.
The Cavaliers have a handful of young assets, including Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Lauri Markkanen and Isaac Okoro. Plus, Cleveland is winning. At 16-12, the Cavs are in position to make the postseason for the first time LeBron James left after 2018. Cleveland has the assets to give up in a deal for Simmons while maintaining competitiveness in a playoff push.
The Timberwolves are also looking to get back into the postseason and have a few contracts that can be moved in a deal for Simmons. The most notable being D’Angelo Russell. Malik Beasley could also be dangled since the Sixers need a guard. The T-Wolves could get Simmons to go with Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, forming a pretty solid 3-man squad.