Sixers rumors: Pros of trading Ben Simmons for Jerami Grant
One of the desirable aspects of adding Jerami Grant to the Sixers is his offensive aggression. Through his career, he has added moves to his bag that helped him average 22 points a game last season. He is a willing shooter from anywhere on the court and is a solid finisher at the rim. He could break out of a shooting slump at any time, especially if surrounded by shooters and a dominant center like Joel Embiid. At the end of the day, he can score at all levels, and this skill set would be welcoming to Doc Rivers’ offensive scheme.
Earlier, I mentioned a log jam at the power forward position. Yet, what if Grant would play more small forward? He is long and fast enough to cover wing players, so why not consider his versatility? As a defender, he could match up with players like Jimmy Butler, Zach Lavine, and Jayson Tatum just to name a few. With his long reach, he’d add another shot blocker to the Sixers, where he averaged more blocks per game last season than Simmons.
The contract salaries for Simmons and Grant are like night and day when it comes to term length and money owed. Where Simmons is owed $140 million over the next four years, Grant is owed $20 million this year and $20.9 million next season before his contract expires. Financially, this benefits the Sixers’ salary cap situation much more should they make this trade.
The final positive is that he is still young and relatively durable. At 27 years old, Grant has played 77 or more games four times in his NBA career and has not missed significant time due to major injury. For a team that has its fair share of players who get hurt during the season, a steady player like Grant would be beneficial on the Sixers.