Ben Simmons is the most recent must-trade NBA star in a long lineage of them. After an abominable performance from Simmons in the second round of the NBA playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers co-star Joel Embiid and head coach Doc Rivers expressed their shaken confidence in him.
That was likely the final nail in the coffin for both player and organization, and the Sixers have been looking to trade him ever since. However, their demands are steep. They want a plethora of draft picks as well as young players with upside. For a player in Simmons who shriveled into a tiny ball and disappeared against the Hawks, can any team justify making such an investment?
Ben Simmons is the NBA’s newest must-trade star, and the Philadelphia 76ers want to use him to trade for Damian Lillard. Here’s how it could work.
Enter the Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard. The Blazers are an organization with their own chaos and drama, and Lillard isn’t exactly… disgruntled, but he’s not happy either. Portland did nothing to enhance their championship candidacy other than blaming previous head coach Terry Stotts and firing him, and then replacing him with Chauncey Billups. And that’s been its own disastrous scenario.
So Lillard knows the clock is ticking on his own reign of greatness, and the Blazers are probably not going to be able to build anything close to a championship contender around him. As a result, the relationship between player and organization is certain to deteriorate over time, and a trade is likely the inevitable outcome.
Let’s jump to the end and assume that the Sixers and Blazers find common ground and decide to work on a deal to solve both of their problems. Our friends at Bleacher Report came up with a hypothetical trade idea that gets both teams what they’re looking for, so we’re going to break this trade down from both sides and see if it works for all parties.
First, here’s what the trade looks like. (Note, the original trade idea proposed the Sixers sending their 2022 and 2024 first-round picks, but the Sixers cannot send the 2022 first-rounder. Thus, I adjusted it to the 2023 and 2026 NBA drafts, the earliest they could send two picks out.)
Let’s take a look at this trade in greater detail, starting with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Does this trade for Ben Simmons work for the Portland Trail Blazers?
The Blazers are the team getting the haul in this deal. They get Simmons, who is supremely talented but damaged goods after this past playoff run, and somebody who could play alongside CJ McCollum in the backcourt and provide a huge dose of much-needed defense and playmaking.
They also get promising sophomore Tyrese Maxey, coming off an excellent rookie season, as well as Matisse Thybulle, who is one of the NBA’s best defenders. Not least of all, they get two first-round draft picks. The Sixers figure to be very good for a long time, so first-round picks in 2023 and 2026 likely won’t end up mattering a great deal, but it’s always nice to come away with firsts when you trade your superstar as the Blazers are doing here.
The Blazers will miss Damian Lillard’s offense, but Simmons is an elite defender and an excellent playmaker. Ben Simmons is never going to take over a game on the offensive end, but that’s what the Blazers have McCollum for, and Simmons can be the ideal wing stopper in clutch situations.
There was some redundancy between Lillard and McCollum on the same team, but no such redundancy exists in a lineup with Simmons and McCollum. Between the infusion of young talent, the opportunity to rehabilitate Ben Simmons and a couple of draft picks to boot, this seems like a great deal for the Portland Trail Blazers, a team that has to do something fast.
Does this trade for Damian Lillard work for the Philadelphia 76ers?
The Philadelphia 76ers solve a handful of problems with this deal. First off, they get Ben Simmons out of Philly and onto another NBA roster. Second, in removing Simmons from the equation, they replace him with somebody who fills their offensive holes beautifully. Whereas Simmons was tentative and often afraid to shoot the ball (and just outright refused to do so in the fourth quarters of the Hawks series), that won’t be Lillard’s flaw.
Lillard will be a shooting and scoring threat that makes Joel Embiid’s life easier and fits with the roster and starting lineup infinitely better in a traditional sense. He’s a big downgrade defensively, but the Sixers are already a pretty good defensive squad even without Simmons. This is a tradeoff they should be willing to make.
It’s still a massive investment in future capital, as this trade is not a one-for-one swap. Simmons departs along with Maxey and Thybulle, as well as those two first-round picks. It’s a costly move, but Lillard is a true star, if not an absolute superstar. The Sixers are the team sending out the haul of assets rather than receiving, as they currently demand, but if there’s a place to spent that capital, this deal is it.
This trade may be painful for the Sixers, but it works and they should pursue it if it becomes a possibility.