Sixers: 3 fair trades involving Ben Simmons and Tyrese Maxey

Tyrese Maxey + Ben Simmons trades: Sixers and Raptors get funky

Sixers also receive: 2025 first-round pick swap (TOR), 2026 first-round pick swap (TOR)

Even this feels optimistic. Scottie Barnes was the No. 4 pick and clearly has big fans in the Toronto front office. OG Anunoby is due for a breakout season. He’s the perfect replacement for Simmons on defense, but are the Raptors really interested in four years of Ben Simmons when a rebuild feels more prudent?

On paper, this is fair value. Simmons is a three-time All-Star, just turned 25, and is under contract for the next half-decade — all guaranteed. But again, his actual trade value doesn’t really reflect that. The Sixers cannot expect such a return, and Simmons is going to play hardball. That will only decrease Philadelphia’s leverage.

It’s also easy for Sixer fans to puff out their chest and proclaim Tyrese Maxey as the next John Wall, but in actuality, he averaged 15.3 minutes per game as a rookie and was the No. 21 pick, which is indicative of how the league viewed him as a prospect (right or wrong). There’s no doubt Maxey is a significant asset, and he’s an important part of the Sixers’ future in an ideal world. But his inclusion will not convince Toronto to give us the entire war chest. That’s simply not a realistic expectation.

So, in this deal, the Raptors get to pair Ben Simmons with Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet. That’s a playoff team, and a damn good starting point for a top-10 defense. Toronto would still maintain some flexibility around the margins, and Raptor fans can rest easy knowing Masai Ujiri and Nick Nurse are steering the ship.

For Philadelphia, this is a bit tricky. While Barnes earned his stature as a top-4 pick, I would argue Davion Mitchell (the No. 9 pick) is probably the preferable trade candidate if we’re choosing between top-10 picks. Barnes would plug into the Simmons void almost too perfectly, in that he’s a 6-foot-9 forward who played point guard in college and doesn’t really shoot. Barnes will get better over time and is more willing to embrace a secondary role than Simmons, but the Sixers probably want a more traditional point guard option in any Simmons trade. Especially if Maxey is included.

As you might already know, OG Anunoby is definitively not a point guard. He’s a top-tier defender, a really nifty three-level scorer, and one of the most talked-about breakout candidates in the NBA, but he’s not a point guard. The Sixers get Goran Dragic, but he’s $19.4 million of expiring money and hasn’t looked like a starter in two years.

You probably end up with a starting five of Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, OG Anunoby, Danny Green, and Goran Dragic, with Seth Curry, Scottie Barnes, and Matisse Thybulle anchoring the second unit. That’s fine — that’s a really good team — but it’s probably not what the Sixers envision from a Simmons trade.