NBA Trade Grades: The James Harden-Ben Simmons deal
By Jack Simone
NBA Trade Grades: The James Harden-Ben Simmons deal – 76ers
This is what Daryl Morey wanted all along. For months, he refused to trade away Ben Simmons for scraps, insisting that he wanted to get a superstar-caliber player back in return.
People called him crazy (some called him incompetent…), but it paid off for him in the end. But that makes you wonder, was this all pre-planned at the start of the season?
All tampering accusations aside, this trade should work out nicely for Philadelphia. As one could imagine, the fit of James Harden and Joel Embiid should be amazing.
Harden will be (by far) the best player Embiid has ever played with, and Embiid will easily be the best big man Harden has ever played with.
The pick-n-roll between those two guys should be elite. With Harden’s innate ability to run an offense and Embiid’s utter dominance all over the floor, things should run smoothly.
The keyword there is “should.” Both Harden and Embiid have fairly large personalities, so that will be something to look out for as the rest of the season plays out.
In addition, giving up both Seth Curry and Andre Drummond in the trade has to be a killer for the Sixers. Curry has been one of their most consistent players this year, and Drummond was their only true backup big man.
Now, they will rely on Tyrese Maxey a bunch, and Paul Millsap will probably have to play some serious big-man minutes. Overall, though, it’s hard not to see this as a majority win for the 76ers.