After a complete fallout with the 76ers in the offseason, Simmons has not played a game for the team so far. The Simmons team wants to join a new team and start over, but the 76ers don't want to deal with it at a low price.
As a result, Simmons deliberately missed the team's training session and was then fined by the 76ers. For Simmons, the lack of play for a long time will certainly have a great impact on his own development.
For the 76ers, Embiid has once again played an all-around performance this season that is enough to compete for MVP. At the same time, although they are only sixth in the East, they are only 2.5 wins away from the first heat, and it is not impossible to catch up.
I believe that the 76ers will not waste Embiid's peak because of Simmons' turmoil, and then lose the perfect opportunity to compete for the championship. Because of missing this time, the 76ers don't know how many more seasons to wait.
Therefore, it is possible to send Simmons away. Although there have been rumors about Simmons' related trades not long ago, which team can provide enough trading chips for the 76ers who have a big mouth for the Lions?
As far as the current situation is concerned, there are probably only two teams that best meet the needs of the 76ers. The first team, no doubt, was the Kings, who had close contact with the 76ers in the offseason.
Not long ago, news broke that the Kings were willing to send Harry Burton, Hield, Barnes plus two first-round picks to the 76ers in exchange for Simmons, Sable and Harris, but the 76ers eventually refused.
Although the deal was vetoed, the Kings remain one of the teams expected to get Simmons. One reason for that is that the Kings have not made the playoffs in 15 years, so the team will try to meet the 76ers' requirements to get an All-Star.
For the 76ers, of course, they want to trade Simmons to another superstar, such as Lillard and Beal, but both seem to want to stay on their teams until retirement, but such a deal does not seem to happen.
As a result, the 76ers want to put Simmons' trade direction on helping to ease the team's salary, so that the team can offer Harden a maximum salary contract in the offseason, because Harden can jump out of the contract at the end of the season and become a free agent.
The plan to reduce the team's salary is to clean up Simmons and Harris. Harris has 2 years and 76 million contracts left, and Simmons has 3 years and about 110 million. These two high-paid and low-energy players have indeed greatly limited the salary space of the 76ers.
For the Kings, although they announced that the team wanted to use Fox and Harry Burton as the core of the team and would not trade them, if they could get an All-Star player, the Kings could end up trading one of the two.
The reason, of course, is that the Kings really want to be in the playoffs this season, or even just the playoffs. At the same time, the king's salary space now does allow them to accept simmons and Harris, the two salary burdens.
Looking at the entire league today, there are really only a few teams that can complete such a deal without affecting the team's own salary situation and overall strength, so the 76ers have almost no choice.
As it stands, for the time being, only the Kings are the most reasonable and the team with the best chance of getting Simmons. As long as the talks between the Kings and the 76ers haven't broken down, Simmons has a chance to go to the Kings and become the core of the team.
The other team is the Hawks, who have also been revealed to have offered the 76ers John Collins, Reddish and a first-round pick in exchange for Simmons, which was also rejected by the 76ers management.
After negotiations with the 76ers broke down, the Hawks also sent Reddish to the Knicks first, swapping with Kevin Knox. While one of the main chips, Reddish, is out of the team, the Hawks still have a chance to get Simmons.
First, the Hawks have a record of just 21 wins and 25 losses this season, ranking 12th in the East. This is absolutely unacceptable for a team that has just reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season, so the Hawks management also has some pressure.
In addition, the Eagles' rotation lineup is also very deep. In other words, this means that the Hawks now have a lot of players to trade. At the same time, the team's first-round draft picks in the next few years are also fully in their own hands.
The players in the Eagles, especially the young players with potential, plus the first-round draft picks, are indeed very attractive to the 76ers, because the immediate combat strength and potential players are very lacking in the 76ers today.
So why aren't the Hawks the team with the best chance of getting Simmons? First, the Hawks have been plagued by injuries this season and have not put up their strongest starters for a long time, so they can wait until the starters are all healthy before continuing to explore the necessity of related transactions.
Second, the 76ers are now aiming to compete for the championship, and there isn't much interest in the Hawks' draft picks. In addition, a while ago they replaced Reddish with a first-round draft pick, and I believe the 76ers are even less interested.
Coupled with the fact that hawks core Trae Young is an uncompromising non-sale, and their reluctance to accept Harris's junk contract, it seems that the probability of a deal between the 76ers and the Hawks will be further reduced.
However, the Eagles' current ranking of not being able to do so is indeed a bit embarrassing. If they really can't upgrade the depth of their current squad, then there's a good chance they won't even make it to the playoffs.
But the 76ers had eaten the scales and would not lower their standards, so the probability of the King getting Simmons would be higher in comparison. In addition to the Kings and Hawks, other teams including the Timberwolves and Blazers have also taken an interest in Simmons.
Another weak team in the East, the Pistons, offered to trade Grant, Sadiq Bay, Olynyk, plus a first-round pick for Simmons, but in the end they were all strictly rejected by the 76ers management.
There is still almost a month to go before the trading deadline. It depends on how the 76ers will deal with Simmons next. But either way, the 76ers would never be a place for Simmons to stay.
Even if he stays with the 76ers this season, Simmons will most likely wear the shirt of other teams next season. In the case that the 76ers have made it clear that Embiid is the absolute core of the team, the reason why there is no two tigers in one mountain, presumably the two also understand it!