3 trades to explore between Sixers and Pacers: Caris LeVert & Myles Turner
Any time you expand to three teams, the intricacies of a trade get tricky. Especially when it involves a player of Ben Simmons’ caliber, who naturally requires a substantial return. It’s even tricker when all three teams are over the cap and have to dance the delicate tap dance of NBA finances.
That said, the Pacers are well known to have interest in Ben Simmons. The inability to trade Malcolm Brogdon this season is a hindrance, but it does not take Indiana out of the running entirely. If they’re willing to part with enough draft capital, there’s a path to making it happen.
This is one such path. The Hornets are the universally accepted prime destination for Myles Turner, whose future in Indiana appears uncertain at best. The Hornets’ lack of a true defensive backbone is their greatest weakness, and Turner is one of the two or three best rim protectors alive.
For their troubles, the Sixers get a swell picks package, along with P.J. Washington — a starting-caliber big who hits 44.4 percent of his 3s and plays mean defense — and Caris LeVert — a hooper at heart and one of the NBA’s most entertaining iso threats. LeVert is not good enough to form the foundation of a Simmons trade on the surface, but Washington is arguably an even better find, and at some point, you have to take three extra picks and work from there. It’s hard to imagine such a juicy pick package wouldn’t tempt Portland further down the line.