Opinion: The Philadelphia 76ers Should Call This Team If They Want To Avoid A Ben Simmons Circus
The Philadelphia 76ers have a potential circus on their hands with the situation surrounding All-Star Ben Simmons.
According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective Podcast, Simmons is willing to hold out of training camp and be fined.
The episode can be heard in the hyperlink above, and the quote from Windhorst can be seen in a Tweet that is embedded below from the NBA Central Twitter account.
The situation does not seem to be a good one for the 76ers, who have been expected to be a championship contender with Simmons, Joel Embiid and Doc Rivers.
How could the Indiana Pacers save the 76ers from a month full of drama?
Earlier in the off-season, Bleacher Report's Jason Dumas reported that the 76ers rejected a deal for Simmons from the Pacers that was for Malcolm Brogdon and a first round draft pick (see Tweet below).
If the report was accurate and the Pacers did have interest in Simmons, they would make incredible sense as an option.
Why?
They have an abundance of players that are good but not great.
Caris LeVert, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, T.J. McConnell, T.J. Warren, Malcolm Brogdon, (rookie) Chris Duarte, the list goes on.
The 76ers are not a team that is going to be looking for draft picks and young players to have to develop.
They have a potential MVP in Embiid, a veteran coach in Doc Rivers and other veterans like Tobias Harris and Seth Curry.
They are in win-now mode, and this drama has the potential to mess up their season if handled poorly.
If the 76ers were to go down the list of teams that could be interested in Simmons, they would have to look pretty far down the list to find a team that has the number of solid players the Pacers have.
The catch is that they do not have a star, but two solid players who can shoot the basketball would help the 76ers much more than draft picks and young players with potential.
For starters, Simmons would make a ton of sense for the Pacers organization, but maybe even more so, the 76es could keep their championship window open by adding a Brogdon and or Sabonis, Turner, or Warren.
The longer the Simmons situation drags out, the more potential there is for team disrupting drama.
The more drama that ensues, the harder it will be for the 76ers to have a season that wins the Eastern Conference.
Opinion: The 76ers need to talk to the Pacers if they want to end the drama.
