Sixers ‘waiting on a prayer’ to trade Ben Simmons for Damian Lillard
The Philadelphia 76ers are now two preseason games in and the team still has yet to see Ben Simmons report to the team. That is due to the fact that he is in a holdout as he forces his way out of Philadelphia.
The Sixers and Simmons are in a standoff to see who blinks first in this situation. Philadelphia wants Simmons to at least report and they will punish him if he continues his holdout, but the 25-year old refuses to show up and the Sixers just might have to settle for anything at this point.
On the flip side, president Daryl Morey has been steadfast in keeping his trade demands high for Simmons. The team wants a haul for the versatile player which makes sense when considering he is a 3-time All-Star, he has been named to an All-NBA Team, and he has twice been named to an All-Defensive First Team.
Therefore, the Sixers still have hopes to acquire Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers, but Lillard has backed off on his desire to leave Portland. He is willing to give Chauncey Billups a shot as their new head coach and per Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Sixers are waiting on a prayer in order to acquire Lillard.
Per Amick:
But here’s the thing: Morey has made it clear, both then and now, that he has extremely high expectations for the eventual return on a Simmons deal. I get it, for sure, as we’re talking about a three-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA player.
But as you both know, and has been said and written about plenty of times, the Lillard-for-Simmons swap with Portland that is widely seen as Morey’s dream scenario just isn’t realistic. Not yet, anyway.
“You’re waiting on a prayer,” the source said of the Lillard scenario.
It does appear that the Sixers are better off looking at maybe the Indiana Pacers or the Sacramento Kings. The Minnesota Timberwolves are another possibility as they continue to look for a Simmons deal. At this point, Philadelphia will have to get something done sooner rather than later in order to avoid an even bigger headache at this point.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
List
The top 6 possible trade destinations for Sixers star Ben Simmons
