Sixers shouldn’t trade Ben Simmons for second pick in 2020 NBA Draft
The Philadelphia 76ers shouldn’t trade for the second overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
The NBA Draft Lottery has happened and now the order to begin the draft has been determined. Sadly the Philadelphia 76ers aren’t in the lottery, but one team that has had interested in Ben Simmons does have a top pick this year.
In the middle of this regular season, a story came out about a potential trade between the Sixers and the Golden State Warriors. The deal was based around swapping Simmons for D’Angelo Russell.
That hypothetical deal never happened as the Warriors ended up dealing Russell to the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, the idea of having Simmons play alongside the duo of a sharpshooter in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson hasn’t faded away.
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After the Warriors landed the second overall pick in the upcoming draft, it didn’t take long for speculation about the Sixers trading Simmons for the second overall pick. Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie was one of the higher-profile names on Twitter to chime in on the idea.
They shouldn’t even think about it.
In a similar way when Christopher Kline of The Sixer Sense wrote earlier this season the first time the idea of trading Simmons to Golden State was first brought up, this idea shouldn’t be entertained by the front office. Trading Simmons for the second overall pick doesn’t make sense for several reasons.
To be honest, Simmons is worth more than the second overall pick. This is a weak draft where fit takes more priority than elite talent so getting a player of Simmons caliber, who was the first overall pick in 2016, seems unlikely.
Even if the Warriors were to package that pick with a player like Andrew Wiggins or Draymond Green still wouldn’t be worth the while for the 76ers. Wiggins is an inconsistent/inefficient scorer and Green is similar to Simmons in terms of skill sets but is much older and even in his prime wasn’t as good as Simmons is now.
Also before Philly even considers splitting up Simmons and Joel Embiid as a dynamic duo, they need to make several other changes first. That means they would have to move on from head coach Brett Brown, trading Al Horford, add more shooters and find a starting-caliber point guard. Trading Simmons (or Embiid) before doing all those things would be a major mistake.
Next. It’s time for a proper sweep. dark
The Philadelphia 76ers shouldn’t consider trading Simmons for the second overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. It wouldn’t be a fair value trade and the Sixers shouldn’t be considering moving him at this point either.