Sixers’ possible Ben Simmons trades with Miami Heat: The (other) 3-teamer
The “screw it, get Joel some shooters” hypothetical, in which the Sixers basically add only elite 3-point shooters, Daryl Morey pens a controversial academic paper disputing the conceptual integrity of defense, and Joel Embiid gets more space than he knows what to do with. It all starts with the Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade. In this hypothetical, he gets a four-year, $60 million deal. He could get more, but frankly, what exactly is his market? Who is looking to sign Duncan Robinson to an $80 million contract? Until a clear answer is provided, I will operate under the assumption that $15 million per year on a title contender is enough.
Philadelphia also gets Tyler Herro (who can shoot the crap out of the ball), Collin Sexton (who the Cavaliers famously do not want to pay… probably), and a few juicy picks. Cleveland removes itself from the Sexton extension, and gets Dragic’s $19.4 million expiring contract to play with at the trade deadline.
Frankly, this is not the move I would make in Philadelphia’s shoes, and for Miami, it would drain their roster of floor spacing. The package could be expanded to send Seth Curry to Miami (the Sixers cannot play Curry, Herro, Robinson, and Sexton, though Morey’s new anti-defense manifesto would surely contend otherwise). The Sixers, in reality, would probably look to flip some of the Miami assets for another star-level player. Herro and Robinson are not, I am sorry to say, the All-Stars Morey has been campaigning for behind closed doors.
All this to say, the Heat are a very strange team to come up in rumors. There’s merit to the Amick report, no doubt, but I would not expect Miami to be a frontrunner for Simmons when the dust settles. Even so, it’s worth bookmarking the potential avenues to a deal, just in case Pat Riley gets anxious.