If Philadelphia wants to get rid of Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris is also likely to be included in the negotiations. However, this clearly complicates things financially… In fact, a single franchise could have the space necessary to accommodate the two men.
When it comes to ambition for trades, the Sixers are champions across the board. At first, the front office wanted to get a superstar or several first round draft picks for Ben Simmons… Now they want to include Tobias Harris in the discussion! But why? According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the latter is simply too dependent on the 2017 ROY:
Tobias Harris isn’t having an outstanding season and I think that’s partly because he doesn’t have Ben Simmons on his side. On paper, he is a good player in himself. He has a contract that is too high, probably, but he is a good player. But why would they want to keep him if he’s less good without Simmons?
The Kings, the No. 1 base for Simmons and Tobias Harris?
In other words, in the event that Simmons leaves, the winger fighter (5 teams in 10 years) would definitively become a dead weight in Pennsylvania. The problem is that between them, they represent a fairly substantial part of the salary cap of a franchise. Few are therefore able to accommodate them simultaneously… In fact, according to Winhorst, there is even only one, linked to Simmons’ rumors for a long time:
That’s $72 million, which means you’d need $56 million to send for this to happen. So you would have to trade a minimum of $56 million to get these two guys. The only ones who can then discuss a trade with the 76ers for Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons are the Sacramento Kings who could provide Buddy Hield, Tyrese Halliburton and Harrison Barnes in return.
It’s a fact, the Californians have been on the Aussie’s case for quite a while now, and Buddy Hield’s name has been rumored outbound for about as long. The same for Barnes, whose heavy contract (38.5 million until 2022-23) does not correspond to his level of play. Would Sac-Town however be ready to part with Haliburton as well? Not sure, given that he has been one of their few satisfactions since his draft last year.
The other point that will be debated is whether the Kings really want Harris. It’s never been discussed before, so it’s not guaranteed that they’ll decide to give it a shot. But as no one seems to want to acquire the former Magic and Clippers, this remains the only possible option for Philly… Decidedly, it is a very complicated situation for GM Dary Morey.
Sending Ben Simmons to Sacramento is one thing, adding Tobias Harris to the package is quite another. It may well be that the Californians end up abandoning their plan to recruit the Australian, to the chagrin of the Sixers…
