Chicago Bulls: 3 early trade targets to watch for the 2020-21 season
3) Chicago Bulls early 2020-21 trade targets
3. 93. Pick Analysis. Point Guard. Salary: $29.25 million. Ben Simmons. player. Scouting Report
A name that was commonly mentioned on the trade market in the last few months is the Philadelphia 76ers sizable star point guard and former LSU Tiger Ben Simmons. This 6-foot-10 and 240 pound floor general was the first overall pick of the Sixers in the 2016 NBA Draft, and has turned into one of the best two-way players at his position in the four years since.
The 2019-20 steals champ, two-time NBA All-Star selection, and one-time All-NBA Team selection, had another solid season (when healthy) during the 2019-20 campaign. Simmons played in 57 games during the shortened 2019-20 regular season for the Sixers (all of which he started in), before going down with a lower-body injury to end his campaign.
And he averaged 16.4 points per game, 7.8 rebounds, 8.0 assists, a whopping 2.1 steals, and 0.6 blocks. Simmons shot 58.0 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 62.1 percent from the free-throw line.
If the Sixers and newly hired general manager Daryl Morey don’t feel that Simmons is the right fit alongside star center Joel Embiid over the long haul, then maybe he could hit the trade block this season.
Simmons was mentioned by ESPN’s Zach Lowe (on “The Lowe Post Podcast”) over the weekend as a potential trade chip if the Sixers were to get anything done with the Houston Rockets in a deal for superstar guard James Harden. While it doesn’t look like that trade will work out, as the Sixers don’t seem to willing to part ways with Simmons in that sort of deal, it does still go to show that his name is surfacing on the trade market entering the 2020-21 season.