It's no secret that Ben Simmons is on the trading block, and it's also no secret that the Philadelphia 76ers' asking price is going to be high. It's been reported that Daryl Morey and company are seeking an All-Star player in return for the immensely talented 25-year-old, and a number of names — including Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal — are obvious targets that would be of great interest to Philadelphia.
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The latest says that a team without that obvious All-NBA talent on the table, like Lillard or Beal, has had the "most advanced" talks with Philadelphia in laying out a potential deal for Simmons. That team is the Toronto Raptors, as reported by Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer, and the supposed haul the 76ers are seeking in return surfaced from another source.
According to Action Network's Matt Moore — well-know to the NBA Twitter community as Hardwood Paroxysm — the Raptors have emerged as an organization with "significant" interest in Simmons. Multiple sources also provided a basic framework of the 76ers' ask when discussing a Simmons deal with Toronto, which Moore says was turned down:
"Multiple sources including those close to talks said a proposed framework including Raptors guards Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, and the 4th overall pick in Thursday’s draft for Simmons was rejected by Toronto."
Though none of the individual pieces may be as exciting as a star like Lillard or Beal, that's a heck of a lot of talent to add all at once. One could argue that all of Lowry, VanVleet and Anunoby are "All-Star caliber" players in their own right. And there's the fourth overall pick. Mind you, it was purportedly offered and then rejected, so it's clear that the 76ers aimed pretty high.
Moore added that others see this as a bigger framework, one that could ultimately pull in a third team like the Wizards, where Beal would likely be involved. However, there are several questions to be asked here, as highlighted by Philly Voice's Kyle Neubeck, including:
— Why would the Raptors trade away most of their top talent, even if they were high on Simmons? Do they really feel as if a Simmons-Siakam nucleus would be enough to turn them into a win-now team? And if they don't want to be seen as a win-now team, why would they move the No. 4 overall pick? These are pretty reasonable factors as to why the trade package, if true, would have been rejected.
— According to Neubeck, "the Sixers would need to make a corresponding move or turn this into an even bigger deal to make it possible under salary cap limitations," making it more complicated on their end and requiring other significant moves to be made.
— Kyle Lowry's salary demands, which are reported to be $90 million over three seasons, might not fit into the 76ers' plans.
Still, there seems to be quite a bit of legitimacy and fuel to all of these rumors, making it seem all the more likely that Simmons will ultimately get moved sooner rather than later. According to the aforementioned Fischer, though some have said that the 76ers will look to rebuild Simmons' trade value by holding on to him for the beginning of the season, "the overwhelming expectation around the NBA remains that Philadelphia will trade Simmons before the start of training camp." Moore had much of the same to say:
"One other significant shift on the Simmons front: There was talk that 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey would be willing to start the season with Simmons to rehab his value before a midseason deal. That idea now seems untenable to executives based on discussions with Philadelphia."
Could such a move be made before the draft? Will it be in the weeks leading up to the start of the season? Stay tuned.
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