Jake Fischer wrote a quality Ben Simmons article at Bleacher Report. There’s a lot to unpack.
Among the nuggets was a two-paragraph segment where he goes over the list of teams still interested in trading for Simmons:
Philadelphia’s most recent list of interested front offices, to varying degrees, still stands at nine known teams, sources said. In alphabetical order: Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Indiana, Minnesota, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio and Toronto have all remained engaged with Philadelphia.
There is a 10th “mystery” franchise that has held substantial trade conversations with Philadelphia of late, sources told B/R, yet it remains unclear, even to members of Klutch Sports, who this purported additional suitor is. No team, however, has come near Morey and the Sixers’ firm asking price for Simmons, with simultaneous goals to further their championship contention around Embiid and remain in play to some day acquire a potentially available superstar—either from Portland or Washington, or some other unexpected franchise that will eventually arise.
Some thoughts on the reported suitors:
There are some interesting hypothetical deals out there, though it seems like the Sixers aren’t in any hurry to move Ben. That’s okay. You don’t have to do anything right now. Wait and see what happens with Damian Lillard and then go from there. That’s probably the way to approach it.