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Rival Teams See Daryl Morey Holding Onto Ben Simmons Until The Offseason In Order To Trade For James Harden

A James Harden-Ben Simmons trade was among one of the most discussed topics during Harden’s final year with the Houston Rockets. But the trade talks didn’t come to fruition, and the former Rockets superstar ended up making his way to the Brooklyn Nets.

Over a year has passed since then, and Harden’s name has once again emerged in the rumor mill, as it was recently reported that the 32-year old Nets superstar isn’t fully committed with the Nets for long-term and is quite open for another relocation.

As frying Harden out of the Nets now sounds to become a possibility, rival teams now expect Daryl Morey and the Philadelphia 76ers to get their hands on Harden in the offseason, suggesting that the Sixers may hold onto Simmons until then in order to facilitate a sign-and-trade for Harden.

Per Marc Stein:

 

“Winning without Simmons certainly makes it easier for Embiid to adopt that stance … and Philadelphia will be going for its 11th victory in 13 games Monday afternoon at Washington on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Perhaps he has also been sold on a concept that executives with a growing number of rival teams say they see as Morey’s new preferred scenario: Keeping Simmons beyond the trade deadline to exhaust every last possibility for executing a complicated sign-and-trade in the offseason that finally brings James Harden to Philadelphia and routes Simmons to Brooklyn.”