NBA Opinion: If The Philadelphia 76ers Could Trade All-Star Ben Simmons For These Players They'd Still Be A Contender To Win An NBA Championship
The Philadelphia 76ers do not have a lot of leverage right now.
Their All-Star Ben Simmons is not with the team, and every team in the entire NBA and the public know the situation going on.
Therefore, it's hard to make big trade demands when there is no leverage.
On Wednesday, ESPN's Jordan Schultz sent out two Tweets about the situation and both Tweets can be seen below.
In the first Tweet, he reports that the 76ers have "inquired" about Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert.
The Pacers are one of the teams that is reportedly interested in trading for Simmons (see Tweet below), according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and his article can be read here.
On Thursday, Pompey reported more on the possibility of LeVert and Brogdon to Philadelphia in a trade for Simmons and his Tweet can be seen below and article can be read here.
In the article, Pompey reports that the 76ers do have interest in LeVert.
SNY's Ian Begley reported on Tuesday that LeVert's name came up in the two team's talks, and his article can be read here, and Tweet seen embedded below.
My thoughts:
In my opinion, if the 76ers could land Brogdon or LeVert and another player from the Pacers, or Brogdon and LeVert then they'd still be a contender as soon as this season.
From the reports by Pompey, Schultz and Begley its clear that the 76ers have interest in LeVert if they were to make a deal to send Simmons to Indiana.
And there's good reason to be high on LeVert.
He's a 27 year old borderline All-Star shooting guard.
Last season, he played for the Brooklyn Nets and the Pacers and in 47 games he averaged 20.2 points per game.
He isn't a very efficient three-point shooter (32.6% last season), but he shot over 36% from the three-point range during the 2019-20 season.
LeVert is just now hitting his prime, and has the potential to be a player who can average over 25 points per game in a season.
He also has underrated play-making skills (5.2 assists per game last season), so he can also play on ball like a combo guard.
The combination of him and Joel Embiid would be lethal.
LeVert is probably a better player than Brogdon (and a tag younger) but the 28 year old Brogdon had an outstanding season last year.
He averaged 21.2 points per game, 5.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game.
He also shot 38.8% from the three-point range, and is a career 38.6% three-point shooter.
Those kind of numbers would fit supremely well next to the All-Star Embiid.
The 76ers need to be able to surround their superstar with scorers and shooters.
Simmons is an elite play-maker, but he is not the scorer as LeVert and shooter as Brogdon.
While its unknown if the Pacers would be willing to part ways with one of these players (or both), its clear that the 76ers would not lose that much ground if they could pull the right move off.
Simmons is a much better defender with his elite size and athleticism than both Brogdon and LeVert, but as far as offense goes, Brogdon might fit better into the 76ers offense than Simmons ever did.
One thing is also clear, there is no team in a better position to make a trade for Simmons than the Pacers.
And if a deal with this structure could be worked out, it may just be a win for everyone.
