The Philadelphia 76ers will not get any love when it comes to the discourse on which team had the best offseason in the NBA, but no matter what they do, they are guaranteed to at least be better than a certain ball club, especially if this rumor follows through.
Ben Simmons, who split time with the Nets and the Clippers last season, remains on the lookout for his next NBA team. So far, the market has been dry for his services, but the Knicks have been linked to the former 76ers star as a possible acquisition to fill out their roster.
The same rumor, however, suggests that another team could be in the running to potentially snag Simmons off the market — the Kings. According to NBA insider Jake Fischer, Sacramento remains one of two teams that has expressed interest in bringing Simmons in as part of their goal to install another veteran piece on the roster.
If so, well this confirms that the Kings are on the verge of an implosion — and the 76ers cannot do anything but just raise their brows in confusion.
Former 76ers star Ben Simmons reportedly eyed by the Kings in free agency
Respectfully, what in the world is Sacramento doing this offseason? With the West looking even tougher this season, the Kings are doing whatever they can to try and cling to their dimming playoff hopes, and their string of moves certainly reek of desperation.
A nucleus of Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVin is already bad to begin with, but adding players such as Dennis Schroder and maybe Simmons into the fold is the most counterintuitive thing for them to do, especially when it comes at the cost of sapping opportunities for their younger players.
Anyway, this is none of the 76ers’ concerns, although it is definitely interesting to think about the rationale behind Sacramento even wanting Simmons in the first place.
The former 76ers star is so injury-prone that he is basically the NBA equivalent of those recurring cameo guys in trilogies. Aside from that, he is a non-factor offensively aside from his playmaking, which has also been adversely affected by his lack of scoring presence and pressure on opposing defenses.
If there’s anything good to take away from this, it is that at the very least, the Philadelphia 76ers are marked safe from toying with the bizarre possibility of reuniting with Ben Simmons, who is now out to find his new victim, albeit home.