Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons has been involved in every trade rumor possible since the team’s Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the playoffs. The Sixers were the No. 1 seed in the East and the now 25-year old All-Star came up small in that deciding game: He had five points on four shots.
This has become a familiar trend with Simmons, who has come up short in the playoffs before, and the Sixers must decide what they plan to do with the young guard. They can either keep him and try again, because he is so talented and he is just 25, or they can trade him for a better fit around Joel Embiid.
Simmons has plenty of suitors due to his immense talent. According to former ESPN NBA reporter Marc Stein, the Toronto Raptors have an interest in him.
Stein hopped on Chad Ford’s “Big Board” podcast and he said this about Simmons:
From what I see, I just don’t think he’s going to be able to kind of dictate where he goes. You see all kinds of teams — Minnesota, Cleveland, Sacramento, Indiana — all those teams have been already linked with Ben. Toronto was another team I’ve heard that has expressed some interest in trying to find a way to get Ben. If Daryl Morey finally finds the deal he likes, he’s just going to get traded, and he has to be ready for whatever it is.
Morey and the Sixers want an All-Star talent in return, but the only player Philadelphia would most likely have interest in from Toronto is Kyle Lowry. The Sixers are expected to be one of the top suitors for the veteran star, but moving Simmons for Lowry, who is 10 years older than Simmons, would be a risky move.
Philadelphia does not have much money to spend in free agency, so, in order to acquire Lowry, they will undoubtedly have to move somebody to the Raptors and Simmons would be in the mix to be moved.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=48546]
[lawrence-related id=48674,48661,48645]