Sixers: Believe it or not, there’s STILL no rush to trade Ben Simmons

The atmosphere in Philadelphia gets more toxic by the day as the ugly standoff between Ben Simmons and the Sixers continues. He reported to camp unannounced, ostensibly in order to avoid getting fined by the organization for services not rendered, but swiftly refused to participate in drills and got sent home.

The result? More fines. Ben Simmons’ plan to get his money without fulfilling his contractual obligations to play and practice for the Philadelphia 76ers is not going well.

The situation between Ben Simmons and the Sixers gets more toxic by the hour, but strategically there’s still no rush to trade him.

The roiling masses on Twitter and social media have crowned president of basketball operations Daryl Morey king of the idiots as this process continues. After all, how could he have not seen things going the way they have? He should have dumped Simmons at the first sign of trouble for pennies on the dollar and stopped things before they began.

It’s a shortsighted stance taken by fans and observers.

The fact is, things are playing out the way you could easily predict, and that’s not news to Morey. If the Sixers are going to get pennies on the dollar anyway, there really is no rush. At some point, the Sixers will either demand Simmons stays away (probably with pay, although you never know), or considerably less likely re-integrate him into their team.

It’s logical to remove Simmons from the mix as a distraction, but not trade him for some unimpressive haul. First off, the offers provided thus far are unimpressive, so pursuing them is counterproductive. Morey doesn’t want a late first-round pick, some bad salary and a role player for Simmons and if that’s the best that’s out there, it can’t get a whole lot worse by waiting but could improve.

So just how could things improve even if Ben Simmons is banished for being an outright cancer on his current team?

There are multiple reasons that the trade market for him could swiftly improve a couple of months down the road. First off, plenty of teams around the NBA are under tremendous pressure to win and to do so right away. Some of those teams have stars who seem absolutely resolute in their determination to never leave no matter how dire things get, like Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal.

Maybe there’s some real steel in their spines, or perhaps mediocrity gets old for them and they see a realistic path to a title in their futures if they get traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Second off, and way more importantly, a huge percentage of NBA players cannot be traded yet. Free agents who signed contracts this past offseason are untradable until mid-December, at which point Morey’s possible options suddenly open up wide. It seems NBA Twitter may have forgotten (or been unaware) that trades worth pennies on the dollar are the only things being offered because more impressive trades are not allowed yet as a practical matter.

In fact, it would be almost a virtual impossibility for Simmons to actually get traded before this mid-December period, simply because of the massive salary numbers that need to be moved.

Daryl Morey claimed on Philadelphia radio Thursday that this process could take the entirety of the four years remaining on Simmons’s contract. It’s hyperbole, certainly, but it is also a warning shot that this will not be as quick as those dying for the instant gratification (followed by the relentless mocking) of a bad trade want.

So crow all you want, bray against Daryl Morey’s insane plot to try to maximize what’s left of Ben Simmons’s dwindling trade value, but at least be informed as you do so.