Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers are slowly climbing their way above the Eastern Conference standings. But the dark cloud hovering over the franchise remains – Ben Simmons has yet to be traded.
Despite the rumors heating up once again on the long-awaited Ben Simmons trade, with news of discussions with the Sacramento Kings revolving around De'Aaron Fox, Sixers GM Daryl Morey claims that things aren't looking good for any imminent deal ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
Via The Mike Missanelli Show on 97.5 The Fanatic:
Article Continues Below“I think it’s less likely than likely,” Morey said. “But, you know, hopefully I’m wrong. Like, look, it won’t be from a lack of trying. We have a whole team [in the] front office. It’s all we do. We have no other job that matters. It’s all we are working on.”
Daryl Morey has always been a notoriously stingy negotiator when it comes to constructing trades, dating back to his days wheeling and dealing with the Houston Rockets. He's carried that over with the Sixers, but moving Ben Simmons for immense value is clearly his greatest challenge yet.
“Trades are not easy to construct in this league,” Morey said. “There’s a lot of risk aversion. There’s a lot of decision-makers that have to be hurdled. It’s very complex to put a deal together. And that always makes it less likely than likely to get a deal done.”
Now all this talk could simply be smoke and mirrors on the surface to keep the deal-making under wraps, but at face value the Sixers may be sitting on their former All-Star Ben Simmons for the rest of the season.