The Sixers have made Ben Simmons available in trade discussions with the Houston Rockets about James Harden, according to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The report states that Simmons was included in “some” trade packages. An ESPN report confirms that Simmons has been offered up in trade discussions with the Rockets, the two sides are “nowhere close” to a deal.
Harden, 31, is an eight-time all-star, six-time All-NBA first teamer, and 2018 Most Valuable Player. Harden is set to make over $40 million in each of the next two seasons before a 2022-23 player option for $47.3 million kicks in.
New Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey—who of course acquired Harden in a blockbuster trade while he was running the Houston Rockets' front office—has talked this offseason about his desire to keep both Joel Embiid and Simmons.
On November 24th, Morey told 94WIP's Jon Marks & Ike Reese that he believes the Sixers are title contenders.
"Yeah, I do think this is a team that can contend," Morey said. "I like that, teams are—feels like we're coming from the underdog part of it. You don't have to go back about one year—towards the end of the season the Sixers were forecasted to be right there with Milwaukee in the East and everyone obviously did not play quite as well as that. I prefer to be in this spot, where everyone thinks we're like the sixth best team in the East and we'll shock people. So, I'm excited for that."