After the start of the regular season, people seem to forget ben Simmons, who made a departure farce in the offseason. The 76ers, who had a 15-12 record without Simmons, were not bad, and didn't seem to be damaged by Simmons' long absence. In fact, since Simmons voluntarily announced his desire to leave the team in the offseason, many teams have expressed strong interest in trading. For example, the Warriors and Blazers, both Western Conference teams have made offers to the 76ers, and the Blazers' offers even include star shooting guard McCallum. But the 76ers don't seem rushed to deal with Simmons' contract, and the asking price they offer even includes four first-round picks that neither the Warriors nor the Blazers are willing to offer. However, as the season progressed, the 76ers' attitude towards trading Simmons clearly changed, and it once again attracted the attention of many teams. According to Shams, a well-known American journalist, the Lakers and Trail Blazers are the closest team to make an offer to trade Simmons.
There are as many as seven teams interested in Simmons, including the Knicks, Lakers, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, Kings, Pacers and Cavaliers. The Lakers and Trail Blazers are the team with the longest interest in Simmons, and although they don't have consecutive offers, both teams have been keeping an eye on Simmons' situation. 76ers star Embiid once revealed in an interview that he wants to play with one of the league's top point guards, and the 76ers have explicitly asked to receive an offer to include an All-Star before they can sell Simmons. Compared to the Blazers' resolute refusal to trade with point guard Lillard, the Lakers' Westbrook is obviously a chip that can be sent, and it is also one of the few players in the league who can directly match Simmons' contract. Compared to the beginning of the season, Westbrook's recent form has clearly improved. Although his ability to attack the basket has declined, and his shooting ability is still his hard injury, he is still the top conversion guard in the league.
For the Lakers, their biggest problem so far this season is the lack of flanking ability. In the pre-season game, the team's forward star James had low attendance, Ariza has been absent due to injury, and the Lakers are only qualified in front of Anthony. This also allowed coach Vogel to line up the three-guard lineup many times, which is largely the reason for the Lakers' unstable performance. If Simmons can be traded to get Westbrook, then the Lakers' defensive ability on the flanks will obviously jump to the top of the league. Simmons' ability to play multiple positions could also help the Lakers play a more ambiguous positional conversion basketball, and the ability to impact the basket or the rim will be greatly improved. And Simmons is only 25 years old, except for the first year of his career due to injury, he has maintained a fairly good attendance rate in the other seasons, which is a rare young wealth for the Lakers' "old" team.
As the saying goes, everything has two sides. While there are many theoretical benefits to introducing Simmons, there are also many flaws that we can analyze. First of all, Simmons' projection ability is certainly inferior to That of Westbrook. So now the Lakers, who are suffering from westbrook's positional offense without shooting ability and unable to open up space, seem to face a more serious offensive blockage problem after the introduction of Simmons. Secondly, Westbrook as a ball-holding core is obviously not matched with James, can changing a ball-holding core solve the problem of matching with James? These are all questions that require the Lakers management to think twice, after all, they have now played a fairly good record, can Simmons really make them more capable? Do fans and friends think Simmons can solve the Lakers' current problems? Welcome to discuss and communicate in the comments section!