The Sixers have reportedly signaled they are willing to part with Ben Simmons in a potential trade for James Harden, according to numerous reports released on Thursday evening.
In a report put together by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, the veteran reporters claim that trade talks have expanded far beyond Harden's preferred destinations of Brooklyn or Philadelphia, with other playoff teams trying to get a deal done for the perennial MVP candidate.
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Within that story, Woj and Shelburne included this detail:
While the Sixers have signaled a willingness to include All-Star guard Ben Simmons in trade packages for Harden, those talks have come nowhere close to a deal, sources said. The Nets are limited by the Rockets' interest in their personnel, and likely would need a third team to emerge in talks, sources said. So far, the Rockets steep asking price of young players and pick hasn't moved any of their discussions into an advanced stage. [ESPN]
Within moments of the ESPN story dropping, Shams Charania of The Athletic chimed in with his own report that Simmons was available for the Rockets' star.
If true — and we'll get to that point in a second — it would signal a significant departure from the team's public and private stance on the matter. Doc Rivers has publicly denied that the Sixers have been involved in any sort of major trade talks, and Philadelphia has reveled in pointing out that they'd like to see how their new-look roster plays together before making moves of any sort, let alone a franchise-altering trade like this one.
Contacted on Thursday night, the Sixers offered no comment about the swirling rumors to PhillyVoice except to affirm how excited they are about seeing Ben Simmons and the rest of their core playing for Doc Rivers, and doubled down on their claim that they were not pursuing trades at this time. And Daryl Morey stood up to speak himself on the matter, shooting the report down to the guy who published it:
That leaves us in no man's land until something concrete happens. We're at the point, however, where the question, "Who stands to gain from this?" is the most important part of the discussion.
The Rockets, based on both the aforementioned reports and conversations with people around the league, seem to be in the process of accelerating talks to move Harden. Harden has made it as difficult as possible for Houston to conduct business normally, showing up the franchise and claiming he has had no talks with upper management, increasing urgency to get something done before it really spirals out of control. And as the team with the star who wants out, Houston is the franchise with the most to gain from creating a bidding war, or even just the appearance of a bidding war.
So if you want to look at this cynically, that's where you go first. The Rockets gain a lot more from Simmons' name being in the rumor mill as an available target than the Sixers do. Whatever you think of Simmons' flaws, he is a blue-chip talent with significant value as a player and trade piece alike, whose availability would force other suitors to improve their offers.
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On the other side, unless the Sixers are convinced they will get Harden, they only stand to lose from Simmons' name being floated out there as an available trade piece. If the Rockets star is dealt elsewhere and Simmons finds out he was being actively dangled to Houston, that is a sore spot that could threaten to derail his relationship with the team altogether, undoing any progress made on the unity front before they can play a single meaningful game under Doc Rivers.
Those aren't the only reasons Simmons' name might leak, however. One obvious reason? He's not a great fit with what the Rockets already have on hand, and any deal centered around Simmons and Harden might necessitate a bigger trade involving more teams. John Wall and Simmons would not exactly complement one another in the backcourt, and by floating his name as part of ongoing trade talks between the Rockets and Sixers, it brings more teams into the conversation, teams that might have high-value picks and young players of their own to furnish the Rockets with.
On the Sixers' end, there's only one real reason they would start leaking this — Daryl Morey believes they have the best hand and is trying to pressure Houston into making the deal he wants. With the knowledge out there that Simmons is on the table, any return the Rockets would get elsewhere would have to include a player at least as good as Simmons, at the risk of Tilman Fertitta angering a fanbase already growing weary of his tenure as owner. It would be a risky play on Morey's end given the pitfalls mentioned above, but it's not out of the question for a guy who all but wrote a love letter to Harden after leaving Houston, and it fits the M.O. of a man who believes teams should push for title shots whenever they have them within reach.
If we're sticking with the "best hand" theory for a moment, there's also one reason to doubt Houston's willingness to leak it: there will be plenty of teams who would be confronted with this knowledge only to say, "Go ahead and take that offer then." If Houston returned to the negotiating table with that team at any point, they would be safe to assume the Rockets never had the offer or never wanted it, leaving Houston weaker in talks as a result. Bluffing is not always to your benefit, as any poker player or even fantasy GM will tell you.
What you choose to believe is up to you. But if we're reading the tea leaves, it feels like a resolution to this saga is coming soon one way or another.
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