There has been a lot of talk in recent days about a trade between the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.
In the proposed deal, James Harden and Ben Simmons would swap places. That much is clear. What is less obvious, however, is what other pieces would be included.
The Sixers have already blatantly taken one player off the table.
Now it appears the Nets are doing the opposite.
During a recent appearance on The Bill Simmons podcast, the host revealed that there is one Sixers player the Nets are demanding in any prospective Harden trade.
“So here’s what I heard,” he said. “This is from the same source that has given me some good intel over the past couple weeks. Brooklyn is open to it, but [Seth] Curry has to be in the deal. You can aggregate this, I don’t care.
“Brooklyn is looking at this year because they have Durant and Durant, we assume, is going to be healthy pretty soon and the east is wide open and they want a chance to win. For them, the trade that makes sense for them is Simmons and Curry for Harden. This is what I heard.”
That said, Simmons has some trepidations.
“I think that would make sense for a lot of reasons except for Philly,” he continued. “I watched Philly today, I watched their whole game, I like the team they have! If I’m adding somebody, I’m not adding something that blows up what I’ve built over the past couple months. Maxey, Curry, Embiid, Harris has been fine. But what they really need is like…
“I think Bradley Beal makes so much more sense from them because he just gets the Korkmaz minutes and some of the Danny Green minutes and they keep everything else that they have. So if I’m them, I could get Bradley Beal for Simmons and picks, that’s the direction I’m going.”
As details of the 76ers’ complicated NBA Trade Deadline plan continue emerge, it is appearing increasingly unlikely that something for Harden will materialize.
Yikes. The video speaks for itself. https://t.co/tnwtuYX0rt
— Game 7 (@game7__) February 7, 2022
At least not yet.
In the offseason, though? Well, that’s a completely different story.
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Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
