Ben Simmons ruled out Thursday vs. Trail Blazers

Philadelphia 76ers PG Ben Simmons has been ruled out for Thursday’s game vs. the Portland Trail Blazers due to a calf tightness. Simmons played in Wednesday’s game vs. the Charlotte Hornets and was being listed as probable all day long. Apparently, the calf wasn’t well enough for Simmons to give it a go on the second night of a back-to-back. He played 35 minutes in the win over the Hornets last night.

Update: Furkan Korkmaz will start in place of Simmons.

With Simmons sidelined, the Sixers will likely start Tyrese Maxey or Shake Milton at PG. Coach Doc Rivers has already alluded to Maxey entering the starting lineup in place of Simmons. At $3,200, Maxey will be a trendy value play with some time until lock on the main slate. Joel Embiid ($10,200) will be one of the top GPP plays against a Blazers squad that lacks size on the interior.

The Sixers are a 10.5 point favorite against the Blazers at home. Portland will be without Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic, and potentially Derrick Jones Jr. With both teams on the second of a back-to-back, Philly has more depth to play around with and should still be heavy favorites regardless of the status of Simmons.