Sixers rumors: Timberwolves have trade interest in Ben Simmons

The rumor mill is a loud and chaotic place these days, with Ben Simmons in everyone’s trade machine cache, and Damian Lillard soon to join him. This summer has the makings of yet another epic and unpredictable NBA offseason, with high stakes and several moving parts — many of which are in some way, shape, or form tied to the Sixers of Philadelphia.

Should the Sixers explore the Ben Simmons trade market (they will), several teams are expected to express interest. The Golden State Warriors are already on the list, while everyone on planet earth has opined about the viability of CJ McCollum in Philadelphia. If Damian Lillard asks for a trade, well, then you know exactly who Philadelphia is building its offer around.

One team that has been mentioned on the periphery, however, is the Minnesota Timberwolves. ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins has been a vocal supporter of Ben-to-Minny, and now it appears the Wolves do in fact harbor interest. According to Darren Wolfson of SKOR North, a source with intimate knowledge of the Wolves and the NBA said Minnesota wants the 24-year-old All-Star “badly.”

The Minnesota Timberwolves have interest in Sixers All-Star Ben Simmons. Are they a suitable trade partner?

It makes sense, of course. The Wolves are a young team ready to start winning basketball games. At some point, Karl-Anthony Towns will grow tired of a cold northern purgatory, and the way to avoid that is to put real basketball players around him. A core of Towns, Anthony Edwards, and Ben Simmons may actually sneak Minnesota into the playoff conversation.

The problem is, what do the Wolves offer? Unless Edwards is on the table — he won’t be — Minnesota doesn’t have much of anything that would interest Philadelphia. D’Angelo Russell is just not good enough, while Michael Beasley is currently in prison. The Wolves have nice young pieces, but no lottery pick this season, and no established veteran star outside of Towns, who is unavailable and would not fit next to Joel Embiid anyway.

Minnesota would enter negotiations with the goal of pairing Simmons with Towns and Edwards. I have a tough time imagining a suitable package from the Wolves that can accomplish that goal. Enough future picks could tempt Morey, sure, but it feels like other teams with better core players would inevitably outshine the Timberwolves. I cannot imagine D’Angelo Russell is the kind of player Daryl Morey has much faith in, nor should he.

This is interesting and worth monitoring, but trade interest does not equal trade viability. The Sixers would likely keep Ben Simmons if the market were barren enough to give Minnesota a chance, barring a godfather offer of every penny in the Timberwolves’ draft piggybank.