James Harden wants a trade, and the Philadelphia 76ers are one of the few teams that make sense. Here’s why the Sixers shouldn’t trade Ben Simmons for him.
The Philadelphia 76ers revamped their roster in a couple of moves early in the offseason, sending out Al Horford and Josh Richardson and receiving in return Danny Green and Seth Curry, among other players. The Sixers are now a strong shooting team, and Ben Simmons has a whole new group to quarterback.
All the way in the opposite conference, the Houston Rockets are finding their own problems growing. The team that Sixers’ president of basketball operations Daryl Morey recently left just traded Russell Westbrook, and now James Harden is demanding similar treatment.
The Sixers and Rockets are the most obvious trade partners in the whole league for a host of reasons, and we’ll go over three reasons the Sixers should not make a deal to bring Harden to Philadelphia.
Ben Simmons’s youth matters
Ben Simmons turned 24 just before the NBA bubble resumed the suspended season, while James Harden turned 31 in August. While Harden is already an All-World player, the sky remains the limit for Simmons at his young age.
Simmons is a two-time All-Star already after three seasons. He doesn’t have the dynamic scoring capability that Harden has and probably never will have anything close to his 3-point shooting game, but he’s one of the best defenders in the NBA and that’s something Harden can’t duplicate.
They’re very different players, but the Sixers as currently constructed don’t need Simmons to be an elite shooter (or to be replaced by a great shooter). It’s strange to say this after the last few years of Sixers basketball, but they have plenty of shooting.
Considering the tradeoff in scoring and defense between the two players and the seven-year age gap, this is strike one against a deal.