Source: Sixers Have List Of 30 Players They Would Accept In Simmons Trade

 

The Ben Simmons Saga continues to drag on, now a full month into the season. Simmons continues to sit out, the Philadelphia 76ers continue to shuffle between fining him and trying to coddle him, and the rest of the league continues to watch in awe. 

Of that 'rest of the league', there are 30 players in particular who should be on particularly high alert. That's the number of players, according to a source, that the Sixers have on a list that would satisfy them in a trade for Simmons. 

Sam Amick of The Athletic has reported that there are, of course, some of the obvious names on the list, such as Damian Lillard, James Harden and Bradley Beal. But he notes that, interestingly, 30 is "the rough equivalent to the number of All-Stars selected every season." Which seems to confirm Sixers GM Daryl Morey's claims that he will wait until he gets an All-Star, a "game-changer", in return in any trade for Simmons. 

And what's even more telling, is that the source believes that about 5 to 10 players on that list could become available via trade "within the next year or two". This would confirm Morey's insistence that he's willing to wait this out for years, if need be. 

“This is like a multi-year thing,” Amick quotes a Sixers source as saying. 

It certainly appears that each side is trying to call the other's bluff, but there's no telling whose move is next. 

And as Amick puts it when asked if Simmons is any closer to playing for the Sixers: "In two words, hell no."

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