John Wall‘s contract and injury history prevent him from being a realistic option for the Sixers as they try to work out a Ben Simmons trade, writes Derek Bodner of The Athletic. The Rockets and Wall have agreed that he won’t play again until he’s traded elsewhere, but Philadelphia president of basketball operations Daryl Morey is looking for a far greater return for Simmons than the 31-year-old point guard.
Wall will make $44.3MM this season and has a $47.4MM player option for 2022/23, which means he, Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris would take up a huge chunk of the Sixers’ salary cap over the next two years. Philadelphia can only take back about $39.5MM by trading Simmons, so the team would have to include at least one more player in any deal for Wall.
Wall played just 40 games last season, which was his first after returning from an Achilles injury. Although he averaged 20.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per night, there are concerns about his overall game and his fit alongside Embiid due to his limited outside shot. Bodner believes the Rockets would have to include several high-value draft picks to get Morey’s attention and doesn’t see the teams as realistic trading partners.
There’s more from Philadelphia:
- ESPN’s Brian Windhorst hears that Sixers fans are part of the reason Simmons wants to leave. Appearing on SiriusXM NBA Radio, Windhorst says Simmons’ relationship with the city soured last season (hat tip to Alek Arend of The Spun). “It’s not just that he doesn’t wanna play there anymore,” Windhorst said. “He doesn’t want to be in front of those fans. I don’t think he ever intends to show his face there again unless he’s part of the visiting team.”
- The Simmons drama will continue to hang over the Sixers until he either reports to the team or is traded, states Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Simmons has insisted that he won’t be present when training camp opens this week, and he reportedly turned down an offer to meet with teammates who want to smooth over the situation. Hayes contends that Simmons’ stance shows a lack of concern for his teammates, the organization that made him the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2016, and the fan base that has supported him.
- Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer looks at several other training camp storylines, including how Embiid adjusts in the post-Simmons era, the development of second-year guard Tyrese Maxey and other young players, and the addition of Andre Drummond, who has a long-simmering rivalry with Embiid.
“The Simmons drama will continue to hang over the Sixers until he either reports to the team or is traded, states Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer”
I def could have figured that out myself.
Lol, I thought the same thing.
Ben not liking the team or the fans was another pearl.
According to Shams Charania source, Simmons won’t change mind about trade
The Athletic has come up whether the five-time All-Star John Wall could be the solution to the Sixers’ Simmons problem.
Many reporters are now talking about John Wall or Kevin Love for Simmons.
Cavs and Rockets are on rebuild. They are not willing to offer their own future picks
It’s hard to believe that Simmons trade value is so little now.
Most of the sports writers here in Houston think that a John Wall for Ben Simmons trade is going to happen. Wall has more value than people realize.
LOL
The only thing more laughable than suggesting Simmons still has decent value is stating that Wall has ANY value. What are you thinking here?
Simmons took the gut check test in philly and fell flat on his face. Sadly he wasn’t the warrior built in the mold of A.I, The Doctor, Moses,JoJo and every other sixer who left his blood and heart on the hardwood as a sixer legend.This petulant child will sit and pay his fines until a suitable deal entices the sixers and poor ben ,I pity him when he returns to philly.
Tony Wroten had more heart.
Sixers and Morey deserve each other. I’m tired of this BS. Sixers are going from contenders to whoknows ??
What exactly did Morey and the sixers do?
It’s like what they didn’t do. Sixers dragging this shows incompetence. It was over long time ago. Playoffs just clarified it.
So u are mad at Morey and the sixers because they will not trade Simmons for nothing. Thank god u aren’t running a team. Every team when making a trade want to get better, u can’t get mad at the sixers for that.
More like Morey didn’t pull the trigger on Harden and now Simmons value has plummeted. Morey could not have seen the collapse in the playoffs on Bens part but he should have realized what he had in front of him when he had the chance.
Harden isn’t the sixers answer.
Morey has been there 1 year. And he hasn’t made a horrible move yet. He hasn’t done anything with Simmons as of yet.
Was amicable and respectful on both sides… Ben merely told them there was really no reason to travel across the country because a face-to-face meeting wouldn’t change his stance. Better than wasting everyone’s time and (private) jet fees on a meeting that would not change anything.
Very misleading on how the narrative is being portrayed as if Ben is giving his (former) teammates the finger. Which, I guess, ultimately he is lol
I agree brother and like we said in the other post I think this has been brewing for a long time. It’s not like he just decided to sit out in the last 15-20 days.
He probably asked for a trade last year and they didn’t accommodate so he’s going to force his way out a year later. That’s my guess at least.
Morey needs to just pull the trigger and stop trying to show who’s badder between him and Klutch
Not sure if you guys follow hockey but it’s the same situation with the Buffalo Sabres and Jack eichel almost. Eichel has an injury thing added to the whole issue but it’s like the team wants five studs for one guy and it’s not going to happen. It’s disrupting the whole team.., Sixers and Sabres during this entire mess.
Of all those trade ideas I posted the other day the top 3 I believe are Cavs, Pacers and TWolves.
1. Simmons and Joe for Sexton, Love and 3 firsts (all top 8 protected)
2. Simmons and Milton for Brogdan, Warren and a first round pick
3. Simmons and Joe for Russell, Prince, McDaniels and a first.
Before the stupid, why make those traded it only makes us worse. How do you get any worse than a max player causing this much drama and publicly says he’s not going to play.
If we don’t trade him, we will be missing 1 of our key players, have 1 less player in the rotation, be literally giving away money for nothing.
Now in return from a trade we won’t be getting back an all nba level talent that’s yet to hit his prime and is one of the leagues best defenders.
We won’t be getting even close to that.
Deal 1 gives us 3 good picks, a really good young talent in Sexton and a old veteran in KLove. Sexton is a great scoring threat, he has defensive potential and he’s a good clutch player. KLove at worse case is all banged up and not very useful and we either ride his deal out or buy him out. Best case is that on a team with title aspirations that wins games he trains harder and starts to preform better. He could be very solid coming off the bench as a 4/5 that can stretch the floor and rebound.
Deal 2 gives you a solid replacement point guard in Brogdan who is a nice defender, can run an offence and shoots efficiently. TJ Warren if/when healthy is also a real solid pick up. He gives you buckets, play some defence and has an ability to take over games like in the playoff bubble.
Deal 3 is putting faith into an unknown by getting Russell. If/When he’s fit he’s also a really solid player, great in the clutch and a leader but he’s had injury issues for a couple seasons and he’s never really been that successful as a leader. However of talent alone when healthy, he’s better than Sexton and Brogdan. You’d also be getting back Prince who would be a handy role player and McDaniels who looks really promising at PF.
Personally I would be happy with any of these.
I do like the Pacers and Wolves cause of the SF addition on each. I think adding two starters for 1 would be huge. Brogdan Green Warren Harris Embiid or Russell Green Prince Harris Embiid just look a lot stronger on paper. Plus off the bench I think we lack a good back up 4, and with either of these deals Warren or Prince could play minutes as the back up 4 which Korkmaz and Thybulle getting minutes at the 3
Great post Simmons Russ !! Logical and sensible trade ideas. Keep them coming.
It’s still stupid. Look above who advocates these trades should confirm it…are you really a Philly fan???
Just dumb. Unfortunately Sixers are just killing his value. They should just shut up now. There are still teams who value Ben. They will go for him once season gets closer. But Philly needs to stay out of it. Just stop it already. The man is gone. Just shut up and let them war over him. You don’t have to ask they will offer. Just shut up Morey.
@Knick
why do you assume Morey is the source?
I’ve made plenty of suggestions as to what I think they should do what about yourself then? What sort of package do you think is realistic and make sense for both teams? Id like to see your idea since you always talk down on mine.
Simmons>russ : king have a better players to offer.haliburton have great future.hield is great shooter.bagley didnt used in right way by king.
Personally I disagree, I think Sexton is better than Haliburton and Brogdon right now is better. Heild is a great shooter but we don’t need him. We have Curry, Milton, Maxey, Korkmaz and a couple other young guards. Bagley I agree hasn’t been used right and does still have a bright future but I don’t see him as a good fit behind Tobias Harris and next to Joel Embiid
So I’d pass and rather my three deals
Simons>russ : yes,sexton better than haliburton now.but i believe haliburton can be better fit in the future.he shown he can be good playmaker,can defend,and can shoot.he need more minutes.and if he bulk up,he can be great defender.he has lenght,sexton dont have it.heild can be a good mentor for young guard of sixers and still has better trade value than love.bagley can be duo great big with embiid.with haliburton,seth, haris,bagley, and embiid as starter,sixers have better ballance between offense and defense.sexton will give more points but he is one of the worst defender in nba
Nothing personal, I think most media proposals are way off and many fans join in. At worst Ben is a top 30 player even with the meltdown in the playoffs. To trade him just to trade him is dumb and like Morey or not he is not dumb and going to make a move to appease media, fans etc.
So my proposal
I propose we keep Ben and try to make it work
2 keep Ben until such a time as another team gets injuries and/or realizes that they are not a contender without making a move. The sixers have been a playoff team for every year of Ben’s career…yeah, I think a team might realize he helps them in the regular season (even if he lets them down in the playoffs)
He is the most versatile defender in the NBA and the best perimeter defender around, and the the new tweak to foul call rules will benefit him (and Thybulle, so I am not trading Thybulle apart from a blockbuster attachment either) even more this year. He has more assisted 3’s (782 I think??) than any other player since he entered the NBA (so I am not worried if he shoots them as long as he creates them).
So to highlight
1 my preference keep him and try to make it work
2 keep him (fine him if needed) until a good value trade comes along (when other teams get injuries and/or realize they are not a contender without a move)
3 keep him and bench him (I believe we are a top 3 team in the East with him, but a top 6-7 team still without him) and trade him next off season (but doubt this is likely…either he will suck it up an play or we will trade him before the deadline…but there is no rush)
I think most hypothetical trades don’t make us better. With Embiid our window is now to a year or 2 most likely to contend. So trading Ben just to trade him if it does not make us a number 1 seed (3 at the worst) in the East is just wasting Embiid and our window. Might as well blow our team up and trade Embiid and rebuild if we are not putting a contender around him.
Sexton love and picks don’t make us a better, nor do these other hypotheticals
I don’t hate any of those trade ideas.
The only thing you got wrong is Warren can’t play a lick of defense, but with Embiid and Harris next to him he really wouldn’t have to, he’d take the weakest offensive player on the floor.
Not to mention Danny Green and Mattise Thybulle also.
But thanks for informing me more about Warren, I thought he was decent defensively
T J Warren is out indefinitely because of his injury…not sure this is a guy to be trading for right now. I know they are concerned about him in Indy
It can’t get any worse in Philly because Ben Simmons is in the news???
Your panic helps explain the terrible trade ideas but you should explore why you think off-season headlines matter more than wins.
Morey is not panicking, but it is humorous to watch media and fans panic with crazy deals that hurt the team and don’t enhance Embiid and/or our championship/contender window
Ben Simmons is just SOFT. The fans cheered him hard in game 7 when he went to the line and bricked 2. The fans aren’t the problem. Ben refusing to work on his flaws are the REAL PROBLEM.
But with that form he’s NEVER going to be a good shooter. I can imagine his frustration because there are reports that he’s shooting a thousand shots a day and we see videos of him making threes so he’s encouraged and doesn’t want to change his form because in practice he hits them !!
But until he squares that elbow up and puts it UNDER the ball instead of chicken wing out to the side, he’ll never have the accuracy necessary. That’s a fact.
I shoot better left handed than Ben Simmons. I’ve coached 5 to 7 year olds with better form than Simmons. Markelle Fultz had better form than Simmons even with his glitch.
You’re right. I’ve seen kids with tremendous shooting form even while they’re young.
Reach into the top shelf cookie jar baby.
No one not even his own father is man enough to tell him his form is trash, change it immediately. I hate the Balls nonsense but Lonzo at least manned up and realized his flaw was his form.
Shaq was a terrible shooter, even worse than Ben Simmons, but he still had a Hall of Fame career. It’s still the Sixers fault for forcing him to play PG.
This time i agree with u mr harden(mvp).
@Green
Shaq didn’t have a better player like Embiid to share the post with. Oh and uh…Shaq is 7’2 and 325 lbs of all muscle with the perfect aggressiveness to go with it. Ben shoots mostly from 3ft in with a high FG% but he isn’t going to be able to dominate in the post like Shaq vs other bigs that Ben would have to face. He’s finesse not power. He drives to the post not posting up.
Ben is Kenneth Faried with a handle. You can’t even compare him to Lamar. Lamar was better, Lamar shot the dang ball. Ben is talented, toughness of 1 ply toilet paper, but if he was 6’4 hes not even in the league let’s be honest.
@Philly
Who’s Lamar?
Odom
I understand that Wall is “on the block”, but I don’t think he’s a good fit for Philly, or worth the risk, really. So I could see Philly going after their other vets.
Eric Gordon
DJ Augustin
Danuel House
& Picks
for
Ben Simmons
Paul Reed
That trade could definitely work, but it all depends on what picks are involved. None of those 3 players are in the Rockets long-term plans.
2022 HOU 1st rd unprotected
2023 MIL 1st Rd top 10 protect
2024 HOU 2nd Rd.
Hou is not offering 2022 unprotected
It’s a untouchable
Bucks 2023 first round is available
Says who, Silly Man ?
Without giving up any other major assets, it’s basically the only incentive for Philly to take cap off of Houston’s books and drop the price on Simmons. Houston has plenty of picks in the future including their own in 2023. They just added 4 first round players in 2021. They’re going to need to stagger those contracts somehow.
Eric Gordon is worse to take on than Wall
How so? He’s a consistent volume scorer. On a relatively cheap contract.
All 3 of those players would consecutively come off the books over the next 3 years. Leaving Philly with cap to resign their own players and draft new ones in their place.
The real problem now is that the 76ers have zero leverage. Obviously teams aren’t breaking down the door to get him. I don’t see a team giving up 3 number one picks for him unless top 10-15 protected. They will end up having to take what they can get and move on.
Yes I think you’re right. I guess the question would be is what is the word on the street regarding his attitude. Is he just bailing on his team right now, or has he taken the necessary steps that all guys do who want out, and asked for a trade last year? They didn’t accommodate him, he spoke to them at the deadline, they didn’t move him again, so now he’s going to force his way out.
I think it’s been a toxic situation for a while and I would say that Ben has done the right thing for a year but now is tired of it and wants to force his way out. Thoughts?
Who else is going to hold Trey Young to 5-21 or whatever it was in a clutch playoff game?
The fans booed the s**t out of him. Which is their right, but they’re too stupid to realize how vital his defensive contributions are. Like my first sentence said, who else can do that to the games elite point guards?
You can hold him to 0-50 but if you lose your going to get booed. The Casual fan sees the offense.
Young takes a LOT of bad shots. Hes streaky. He can go 1-11 from 3 without anyone guarding thim and then go 8 for 13 the next game.
@Lyman
You know…I read your post and was like…”wait… didn’t Atlanta BEAT the Sixers”? Yeah… he “held” Young to 5 of 23 but guess what? Young shot 9 of 11 from FTs and had 21pts with 10 assists. Meanwhile, Ben shot an excellent 50% from the field but too bad it was only 2 of 4 shooting and 1 of 2 from FT line to ho along with 10 assists. Over the course of that series Young outplayed him with a total of 203 points and 76 assists vs Simmons 69 points and 60 assists. Despite his “amazing shut down defense” Young still averaged 29 ppg, 3 pts more than his regular season average. Now his FG% dropped under 40% but he was still able to helllloo his team by making his FTs, something else Simmons failed to do. So how good is he considering his opponent still outscored him considerably and they lost?
Just curious if any of you who really know the league can answer this:
Is there any chance the 76ers would have traded Simmons for the package that the Lakers used to get Westbrook?
No, it would not have been. James Harden wasn’t enough. The price tag the 6ers are placing on Ben is outlandish and now they’re stuck
Good question. But I think Philly is holding out for much more
Simmons was worth more than Westbrook. At the draft. Sixers have talked his value down now. First off it’s only about getting players that would still make them contenders. Westbrook contract was untradeable. According to this board before trade. Yet he was moved. There are still teams who will take Ben. Sixers need to STFU. Stop making it worse. Offers will come, trust me.
Let him rot. Fine him and let him sit on the sidelines. Klutch is ruining the league. The owners better hold Silver accountable and take back control. Another case of the nuts running the asylum
@Gregory
I don’t get the gate towards Rich Paul. HE’S AN AGENT!!!! He does what the client tells him to do. He’s not making a single dollar more from this Simmons fiasco. In fact, I guarantee you he’d rather not hear a word out of Ben’s mouth unless it was for a marketing opportunity or until he’s 1 year away from his contract extension. Stop blaming the agent for doing his job. I didn’t hear a peep about the stars of other players like KP, Harden or Irving, e.t.c when they demanded to be traded.
#FreeBenSimmons
That is the most outrageous idea I have ever heard Mr Hayes, just settle down & get a life!
I mean PHI, the fans & the teammates have shown repeatedly add nauseum that they do not care about Ben, so why would he care about them?
Anyway as a pro his obligation is to diminish his value as much as possible so his new team pays the least possible for him & have a better chance to compete, that is what a real pro does!
Ben owes absolutely nada to PHI, their fans or teammates… when they threw him under the bus I didn’t hear Embiid or anyone else come out & say it was Doc’s fault or Morey’s… no one defended him… that is a fact!
I just hope these past few years leads to non-guaranteed contracts. NBA players have it too good, clearly.
@philly
No way they agree to that but I do think they need to address the salary matching mandate when it comes to players who’ve demanded a trade. And in the case of players who’ve signed the max deal that gives them thst 1 extra year then maybe they have to forfeit that money if wanting a trade.
Regarding the 3 trades:
The Cleveland trade might be in the works now with Morey trying to get the protection removed from the picks. Could wind up with 1 or 2 unprotected picks.
The Indiana trade would appeal to Morey if Warren wasn’t injured. This trade is the only one mentioned that makes up for Simmons rebounding.
The Minnesota trade, The Sixers have no use for McDaniels and Prince. Morey has probably told them Russell and Edwards, take it or leave it.
Otherwise the best match is Sacramento. Unfortunately, they have no interest in playing defense. They will go into this season with mostly guards and centers hoping for a high pick in the lottery.