After yet another disappointing end to the season, the Philadelphia 76ers are faced with some tough decisions in the offseason. While there have been rumors about a potential Ben Simmons trade, it appears that the Sixers are not at all interested in letting their superstar go — not even for either of the top two picks in the upcoming draft.
Zach Lowe of ESPN reports that the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors — the owners of the first and second overall picks in the 2020 NBA Draft, respectively — are shopping around their picks. As it turns out, however, the Sixers aren't even going to entertain a Simmons trade in this respect:
Rarely have the No. 1 and 2 picks gone to teams in various win-now stages. Both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors have explored trading their picks for All-NBA-level stars, sources say, but no such deal appears (for now) likely to materialize. The Wizards have shown no interest in trading Beal for either pick, sources say. Ditto for Phoenix with Devin Booker and Philadelphia with Ben Simmons.
Rival teams are still hoping the Wizards will wind up trading Beal soon, but they've been pretty adamant about not trading him so far. There was a rumor that Booker is unhappy, but those were also shot down and the Suns don't appear interested in a trade.
As for Simmons, Philly just made big moves by hiring Doc Rivers as head coach and then Daryl Morey as president. Morey has key decisions to make when it comes to this Sixers roster, and there has been plenty of speculation about splitting up the Simmons-Joel Embiid duo.
This does not seem to be the direction the Sixers intend to take at this point, however, as they remain adamant about keeping Simmons in Philadelphia. For now, at least.
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