It turns out the Philadelphia 76ers are interested in trading Ben Simmons for the Portland Trail Blazers “other” star guard after all. Well, at least for a price that Daryl Morey must have known Neil Olshey would refuse to pay.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and STADIUM reported on Friday that Philadelphia asked Portland for McCollum, three first-round picks and three first-round pick swaps in exchange for Simmons, a proposal that was summarily rejected by the Blazers.

Even amid the growing turmoil surrounding Simmons' ongoing holdout, it's not surprising Morey continues to drive an impossibly hard bargain in trade talks about Simmons with suitors across the league. It was barely more than two months ago that the Sixers reportedly offered Simmons to the Toronto Raptors for a king's ransom of Kyle Lowry, Fred Van Vleet, O.G. Anunoby and the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft. Ugly optics and marred preseason preparation be damned, there's been nothing to suggest Philadelphia has plans to move off that type of ridiculous asking price for Simmons anytime soon.

The simple notion that Morey has even qualified interest in McCollum is a tidbit that could prove revealing, though. Until now, every indication was that the Sixers wouldn't settle for anyone less than Damian Lillard in a hypothetical trade with the Blazers for Simmons. No front-office decision-maker in basketball believes in the value of collective star power more than Morey, and there's been some pushback recently on the assumption Philadelphia would be comfortable swapping Simmons for a package of picks and young players now before flipping it for an All-NBA caliber player down the line.

Could the Sixers engaging Portland on McCollum, even under these ridiculously one-sided parameters, mark a long-awaited shift in their anticipated return for Simmons? Charania's reporting about Philadelphia's potential interest in Malcolm Brogdon lends further credence to that possibility. The Indiana Pacers guard is at roughly the same sub-All-Star level as McCollum, though superior defensively and playing on a more reasonable contract.

Lillard, Bradley Beal and Zach LaVine certainly don't seem any closer to demanding trades than they did over the summer. Bright-eyed hopes of sophomore guard Tyrese Maxey cementing himself as a future star while Philadelphia plays the waiting game on Simmons deep into the regular season seem premature, too. Doc Rivers started Shake Milton at point guard on Thursday in the Sixers' second preseason game, reiterating afterward his team was unlikely to have a set opening five this season—hardly an endorsement of Maxey taking the leap toward stardom in 2021-22.

It bears stressing just how far apart Philadelphia and Portland remain from a deal involving Simmons and McCollum. Olshey has long maintained a steadfast belief in the Blazers' championship equity with their current core in place, and rising pressure the front office felt over the summer due to Lillard's pointed, public wavering has been alleviated by his recommitment to Rip City—for now, anyway. There's even a sense in Portland that it would take the Sixers sending extra assets back to the Blazers, instead of the other way around, for Olshey to make McCollum available in a Simmons trade.

That's probably an overzealous assessment of how much Portland really values McCollum, but also speaks to an overarching dynamic that's helped keep Simmons in Philadelphia despite his best efforts to get out fast. Every team in basketball thinks more highly of its incumbents than the rest of the league does, and the nature of most trades—with both sides approaching them from positions of strength rather than weakness—causes executives to dig in their heels on those players even further.

It's no different for Olshey with respect to McCollum, especially in light of Lillard putting his potential departure on hold and the positive vibes emanating from Chauncey Billups' first training camp in Portland. But it is different for Morey with respect to Simmons.

Joel Embiid has mostly played good soldier since the Sixers tried to walk back inflammatory post-game comments following their loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, toeing the party line about wanting his longtime teammate back in the City of Brotherly Love. That facade started to fracture last month when Simmons' camp justified his actions by pointing to a poor on-court fit with Embiid, prompting Philadelphia's franchise player to lay out all the ways he and his team have tried to placate a point guard who completely nukes floor spacing and has grown increasingly reluctant to try and score at all.

What happens when Embiid's patience wears too thin for him to manage? Morey's hope is that Embiid is dominant enough and his supporting cast adequate enough for the Sixers to get off to a good start in the regular season, lessening the need for that palpable sense of urgency. Barring Simmons' abrupt change of heart about reporting to the team or Maxey's full-fledged breakout, though, there's bound to come a time in 2021-22 that Morey feels the desperation needed to seek more realistic trade packages for Simmons.

McCollum isn't the superstar Philadelphia wants, but there isn't an established player of his caliber in the league better suited to be Embiid's perimeter sidekick. That the Sixers would submit even a doomed trade proposal for McCollum is evidence they understand that reality, and the Blazers should exercise patience as a result. When Morey calls back in November or December, as Philly feels the on-court void left by Simmons on a nightly basis, odds are he'll be asking for much less for McCollum than he did during the preseason. It's incumbent on Olshey and Portland's front office to be prepared to say yes.