While the 76ers are exploring multiple trade scenarios centered on Ben Simmons, they may have to lower their asking price if they hope to trade him before the Feb. 10 deadline.
“The value is … there are a lot of teams who want him, but I don’t know there’s anybody who thinks we can’t live without him,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on The Woj Pod, via RealGM. “They certainly don’t value him at the level Philly has wanted in trade packages.
“And so you’ve seen, you know we reported last week Sacramento said ‘We’re out.’ They’ve been telling teams that. Other teams, they feel not only is the asking price too high from Philly. Even if it went down some it would still be too high. It won’t get far enough down for them to make a deal. They just don’t want to waste time on it. They have to improve their team in Sacramento.”
Simmons and the 76ers have been seeking a trade since before the start of the season, and Simmons has yet to appear in a game. He has lost a lot of money in the process.
Ben Simmons Has Lost More Than $19 Million Via Fines From 76ers – Hoops Wire https://t.co/INB0sfb9f9
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) February 1, 2022
While the 76ers are open to trading Simmons within the next few weeks, head of basketball operations Daryl Morey appears ready to hold out until the offseason if he doesn’t find a suitable deal.
“There are a lot of GMs who will tell you, I had one tell me today, certainly a team that has the pieces to do a Ben Simmons’ trade … ‘Daryl has to call me. I’m not calling him. He has to call me with offers,'” Wojnarowski said. “There are teams who feel that.”
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Morey is forgetting that what he is trying to sell will depreciate as..
a) Young talent in the league rises to take guys places…
b) Analytics is a fluid process, always learning from itself, and things might turn further on guys who don’t shoot well. Regardless, other teams use different metrics in their analytics, you can’t assume the other team’s numbers are impressive as your own calculations on Ben Simmons.
c) Teams don’t know where Ben Simmons head is at. Who would quit a team over a press conference or hurt feelings? Is that the guy you want to put the ball in his hands for your franchise? He hasn’t been playing, and that is rarely a catalyst for a deal. Has he been practicing? Improving? Or wasting away?
d) The more Morey jerks people around, the more teams that will react like the Kings have. It’s just not worth it.
Better get it done now, Morey. If you don’t win a Championship or do well in the playoffs, Morey will share a significant portion of blame, for not getting talent back sooner when you could have. Maybe that’s his idea, to raise Ben Simmons trade value by not winning it all, “if only Ben had played….”, for an offseason trade. But that’s then betting on next year when you have the possible pieces to get something done this year. And a lot can change in a year, this or a that, we all know of examples.