Getty Dejounte Murray of the San Antonio Spurs defends Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons during a 2019 game.
Just over a month remains until the NBA trade deadline hits and the Philadelphia 76ers figure to be as busy as any team in the league as relates to working the phones. Although the club has performed admirably despite Ben Simmons’ continued absence, its 21-16 record is a sizable step back from where things were last season.
Still, given Daryl Morey’s reluctance to take pennies on the dollar for the former No. 1 overall pick in a trade — not to mention Tyrese Maxey’s emergence as the starting point-man — one might be tempted to say that the Sixers can hold off on a Simmons move and focus their trade efforts elsewhere for now.
That would be a big mistake.
While Maxey has been a revelation offensively, he lacks the court vision and, more importantly, the defensive chops to account for Simmons’ absence. And no team can reasonably be expected to contend with $33 million in dead money on its ledger for the year.
Finally, the longer this debacle continues, the more of Joel Embiid’s prime is wasted.
So, when Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley compiled his list of potential trade targets for Philly on Thursday, he rightfully went all-in on high-level floor generals.
A Pair of Talented Young PGs Top the Target List
Two of the three players pitched by Buckley are young guards starring for clubs just outside of the playoff race — Dejounte Murray of the San Antonio Spurs and the Sacramento Kings’ Tyrese Haliburton. The other, as one might expect, is the moon shot in Damian Lillard.
For his part, Murray is having a career year in ’21-22, putting up 18.0 points, 8.9 assists, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game. For context, Simmons has never managed an 18-8-8-2 line, and Murray did it while hitting 1.3 three-pointers per game.
His percentage from deep is nothing to write home about at 33.6% but, as noted by Buckley, he’s at least semi-capable from behind the arc (and actually willing to shoot it).
Haliburton, meanwhile, is a steady hand with star potential and legitimate chops as a perimeter threat. For the year, he’s averaging 13.6 points, 6.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. The sophomore guard has also connected on 41.9% of his triples for his career.
Where Philly is concerned, there may be an added bonus if the club can work a deal with the Kings. Wrote Buckley:
What’s interesting about a Kings’ package built around Haliburton is that his rookie-scale contract means more must be attached to him to match Simmons’ max money. So it wouldn’t be just Haliburton but maybe him with sharpshooter Buddy Hield and more or Haliburton, three-and-D ace Harrison Barnes and an extra sweetener.
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Dame Lillard and the Case for Lowered Expectations
Word on the street is that Morey will only consider Simmons-centric deals if they net a top 25-30 player for the Sixers. Although that may have been a perfectly reasonable stance eight, 10, 12 months ago, it’s probably not at this point.
Uniquely talented though he may be — and let’s not mess around here, Simmons is an All-Star in his sleep — the fact remains that the Aussie has some big-time flaws/quirks as a player. And he’s also in the midst of an extended holdout turned months-long absence for personal reasons.
As such, it’s probably time to move the goalposts as relates to what constitutes a reasonable trade return.
Lillard has long been rumored to sit atop Morey’s wish list. However, even as the Blazers are weeks removed from firing their GM and struggling on the court, the odds of Dame getting moved ahead of the deadline are probably pretty low.
So, too, are the chances that any team in the league would be willing to part with that level of player for Simmons. As such, Morey should maybe start considering pretty good deals in lieu of that great one he isn’t going to get.
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