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"Minnesota's one team that has been persistent with Philadelphia [in pursuit of a Ben Simmons trade]."
—@wojespn 👀 pic.twitter.com/FKHIT5keaX
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 17, 2021
Another day, another Ben Simmons trade rumor. While reporting on Jo’s extension (which you can read about here), Woj discussed the Sixers attempts (and failures) at finding a trade partner(s) with the astronomical asking price that has been floated around so far.
The Memphis Grizzlies are trading Patrick Beverley to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Jarrett Culver and Juancho Hernangomez, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 17, 2021
But Woj also mentions the Wolves persistent efforts to pry away Simmons. The aforementioned report from Woj came out prior to the PatBev trade yesterday, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Beverley were to be included in a potential trade for Simmons as the Wolves look to construct a package more closely fitting the Sixers needs.
So what could a package look like? I am not great with the trade machine so I am going to go a bit vaguer than that:
Sixers get:
Malik Beasley
Patrick Beverley
D’Angelo Russell
1st Round Pick (2023 & 2025 (Protected))
Wolves get:
Ben Simmons
Shake Milton
Furkan Korkmaz (Note: I previously had Mike Scott here but I forgot he was a UFA. h/t Scott Muir for the heads up!)
I do think the Sixers get much better with a return like this. I’d assume another team would be involved and maybe take one of those point guards off our hands, but a duo of Embiid and Harris with a strong supporting cast is enough in my mind to at least get to the much desired Eastern Conference Finals next year. Embiid is that good.
Hopefully, the Simmons drama comes to a head sooner rather than later. Both for Ben and the Sixers, it’s time to move on and evaluate what a different future looks like. 