Sixers: 3 possible Ben Simmons trades with Rockets

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Sixers: Possible Ben Simmons trade with Rockets No. 1

Sixers also receive: 2022 first-round pick (Houston), 2023 first-round pick (Milwaukee), 2025 first-round pick (OKC or Brooklyn), 2027 first-round pick (Brooklyn)

This is obviously not the kind of deal Morey and the Sixers front office is looking to make right now. Simmons, despite his many flaws and open trade request, should be able to land the Sixers another All-Star, or at least a borderline All-Star talent. The Rockets are short on such players, so any deal would likely have to start with draft capital — and a lot of it.

Four picks does, at first glance, seem like a lot. Simmons’ value is in the gutter league-wide, and the Rockets are rebuilding. Rebuilds are built on draft picks. That said, not all of these picks are guaranteed lottery picks. In fact, the Sixers could end up walking away with two aging vets and four mid-first round picks. Not the ideal outcome.

Broadly speaking, these suggestions serve as starting points, not definitive submissions to the league office. One could argue the Rockets would need to include more — if not picks directly, then pick swaps. At that point, however, you are basically dumping the entire James Harden return into Ben Simmons. The Rockets did previously opt against that in a roundabout sort of way, if we want to mention optics.

This is the kind of trade Houston should jump at. Simmons is young and would serve nicely as a building block and complement to both Christian Wood and Jalen Green. That’s a formidable and well-fit offensive trio, while Simmons’ defense would help Houston begin to take the next steps. Picks are generally overvalued in trade conversations, and Simmons is a top-35 player with four guaranteed years on his contract, and he’s not even in his prime.

As for the Sixers, again… this is not the most appealing route, and would require a precipitous fall in Simmons’ already-low trade value between now and December, when Theis and Drummond can be traded.