Sixers: 3 reasons to trade Ben Simmons for draft picks
By Ben Wieland
3 reasons to trade Simmons for picks: The Eastern Conference is stacked
There’s a second problem with trying to turn Simmons into a win-now player or package at the moment. While the Sixers, personnel-wise, stayed the same this offseason, the rest of the Eastern Conference continued to improve and add talent around them.
This is no longer the East of the early 2010s — it’s home to two bona fide title contenders and a group of teams striving to join that group. While a conference championship seemed very attainable last season for the 1-seed Sixers against a pool of teams with injuries and question marks, even with a fully-bought-in Simmons this year’s Sixers might not be legitimate contenders.
First, there’s the juggernaut Brooklyn Nets, who should easily be championship favorites as long as their three-headed monster of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving remains healthy. They’ve surrounded their three superstars with an impressive group of role players, added Patty Mills as a microwave sixth man, and will bring back LaMarcus Aldridge after he departed the team last season due to a heart issue.
This is a Nets team that was about two inches of Kevin Durant’s shoe away from knocking off the NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks with no Kyrie Irving and a hobbled James Harden. At full strength with one of the most talented rosters in NBA history and a chip on their shoulder from last season’s disappointing conclusion, they’ll be nearly unstoppable.
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And if anyone does stop them, it’ll most likely be the reigning NBA champions themselves. The Bucks certainly benefited from some good fortune in their title run, but with arguably the best player in the world in Giannis Antetokounmpo and a proven supporting cast, they’ll be threatening a repeat title.
Add in a litany of other teams that loaded up with new talent this offseason — most notably, the Miami Heat adding Kyle Lowry to a core that made the NBA Finals just two years ago — and the road for the Sixers to make a title run appears paved with competition in the most stacked conference this current iteration of the team has ever faced.