Philadelphia 76ers’s price on Ben Simmons has not declined

Ben Simmons continues to be a talking point of the 2021 NBA offseason and for all of the wrong reasons. The soon-to-be 25-year-old really struggled offensively in the playoffs for the 76ers, which has resulted in him becoming sort of an outcast to many Sixers’ fans. 

Many have blamed Ben Simmons for the 76ers coming up short of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in the playoffs, which is somewhat warranted, but he cannot take all of the blame for them losing. Him only converting on 34% or so of his free-throw attempts in the playoffs definitely did not help Philadelphia, but he did not solely cost them a chance to move on. 

However, Philly has been active in trade discussions around Ben Simmons and while they have stated that they will work with him in the offseason to better his all-around game, they are still listening to offers coming in for the young 7-footer.

The main reason why Philadelphia is not so quick to just give up on Simmons is because of how much potential he still possesses. He is young enough where he has yet to reach the best years of his career and with time, Ben Simmons can still become the two-way star he was destined to be. 

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Philly loves the idea of Simmons becoming this player, but how much time can they really afford to spend waiting around for this “epiphany” to happen? This team is ready to contend for a title now and Joel Embiid is playing the best basketball of his career, which puts the 76ers kind of at a crossroads in terms of what to do. 

Do they go ahead and trade Ben Simmons to receive a ton of immediate value now to contend for a title, or do they hold out some hope that Simmons can improve and he becomes one of the best players in the entire league? 

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It is a very hard decision to make from a front-office perspective, which is why Ben Simmons’ value on the trade market remains very high. If the 76ers are to trade him, they want a key contributor or two that can help them compete for a championship now, as well as a ton of draft compensation in return. 

After all, Ben Simmons is an All-Star, All-NBA performer and All-Defensive team performer, which is why the Sixers view Simmons so highly. According to Jason Dumas of KRON4 News, the 76ers even turned down an offer from the Pacers including Malcolm Brogdon and a first-round pick for Simmons. 

There has also been a lot of speculation of a possible Simmons to Cleveland trade scenario involving Collin Sexton and Kevin Love, but according to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, there seems to be “no chance” of this trade happening. 

There really is nothing to believe right now about Ben Simmons trade chatter and everything just seems to be speculation. Given how highly the Sixers view Simmons, it seems unlikely that they will trade him this offseason unless they are getting a guy like Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal in return, which also seemed extremely unlikely to happen.