It was recently announced that the Philadelphia 76ers have offered their superstar point guard, Ben Simmons, a $170 million, five year max extension deal. While the 22-year-old has yet to put pen to paper on the aforementioned offer, this is pretty much a done deal, and the Sixers expect to lock up their point guard of the future sooner rather than later.
This recent development has raised a number of very valid questions with regards to Simmons and his value for the Sixers organization. Perhaps the most important one has to be this: is Ben Simmons really worth a max deal? The short answer to this is: absolutely. Simmons is already one of the best young guards in the league today, and at 22 years of age, he has yet to hit his prime. For the Sixers, this was definitely a no-brainer.
Timing is Everything
The former first overall pick's current rookie scale contract is set to expire at the end of next season, and it would have been foolish for the Sixers to bide their time in locking up this young stud. It would have been an absolute disaster if they let him walk away as a free agent next summer.
The other option at hand would be to trade him. With just one season left on Simmons' current deal, now would certainly be the most optimal time to explore a potential trade deal. But let's face it; this is not something the Sixers would even dream of, so in reality, they were actually left with no other choice but to offer him the extension.
More Questions Than Answers?
Now that we have established why this was the right move for the Sixers, we will need to address the elephant in the room. That is, is Simmons the right man to pair with Joel Embiid as the team's top two guys? More importantly, will a nucleus composed of these two superstars eventually bring a title to Philadelphia? Unfortunately, the answer to these queries are a bit more complicated.
Based on the past couple of seasons, it is obvious that the Simmons-Embiid core has not been enough to bring the Sixers all the way to the promised land. With these two at the helm, Philadelphia has failed to get past the second-round of the playoffs for two consecutive years now. So in this regard, it does seem that there is something still missing.
The good (and potentially bad) news for the Sixers here is that this appears to be something that could fall entirely on the shoulders of Simmons. It is no secret that Simmons' inability to knock down a three-pointer has been his Achilles heel. If he could somehow add this to his arsenal, then this could potentially be the final missing piece in the Sixers' puzzle. As a matter of fact, just hoisting up a few long-distance attempts per game (and of course, making at least some of them) would definitely have a tremendous effect on Philadelphia's offense.
Here's a fun fact: Simmons is 0-for-18 overall from three-point territory in his entire career.
A Potential Trading Piece
If all else fails, then the Sixers can still use Simmons as a trading piece two or three years down the line. If and when the team's front office finally decides that it is time to pull the plug on the Simmons-Embiid experiment, then they should still be able to get a lot of assets in exchange for a 25-year-old Ben Simmons. He is, without question, a superstar-caliber player that can be the centerpiece of any franchise, so should the Sixers decide to offload the versatile 6-foot-10 guard/forward somewhere down the line, then there should be more than a few potential trade partners knocking.
For the Sixers, they should be able to secure a number of assets that they could use to surround Embiid with. It could be a full rebuild with a 27-year-old Embiid at the center, or a win-now scenario wherein they trade Simmons for a superstar that could slide in alongside Embiid immediately. Either way, the Sixers will have options, if it comes to that.
The bottom line here is that Sixers general manager Elton Brand and his front office has to be given credit for making the right decision here. Then again, anybody in their position would have probably done the same thing.
What's important now is how the Sixers will handle Ben Simmons moving forward. He definitely has the potential to become one of the greatest to ever play the sport, and Philadelphia will definitely play a crucial role in how Simmons' future plays out.
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