Philadelphia 76ers: Ben Simmons is not going to LA anytime soon
On The Heard, Colin Cowherd suggested that Ben Simmons should try to leave the Philadelphia 76ers to join LeBron James in LA. Don’t count on it.
The NBA season simply can’t come soon enough.
With free agency essentially over and the joyous sounds of the Wells Fargo Center filled to the brim with ravenous Philly fans still about two months away, basketball pundits around the country are looking for any sort of story to keep their subscribers interested.
Even ones with absolutely no chance of actually happening.
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On a recent episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd on FS1, the show’s host presented his guest, Chris Broussard, with a shall we say creative scenario: Ben Simmons to the Los Angeles Lakers to join up with his fellow Clutch Sports player and by all accounts mentor LeBron James.
Simply put, this scenario holds no weight.
According to Cowherd, Simmons has essentially fallen in love with the Beverly Hills lifestyle thanks to his new girlfriend Kendall Jenner, and once his rookie contract expires after two more seasons, in the summer of 2020, he will bypass any offers from the Philadelphia 76ers and sign his first max contract with the Lakers. This scenario even had Broussard scratching his head.
Ignoring the obvious issues with a scenario, like the fact that only Philly would be eligible to offer Simmons a supermax deal and at the very least would be able to hold on to him for one more season as an unrestricted free agent in 2020, but why on earth which Simmons want to leave the Sixers?
As things presently stand, Philly has as good a chance as any to win the Eastern Conference over the next three to four seasons, and with no other major stars outside of his own teammate, Joel Embiid, remaining in the conference Philly give Simmons arguably the best opportunity to establishing himself as the NBA superstar. Why on earth would he trade that away to play second fiddle to James on what is essentially his farewell tour?
Don’t get me wrong, adding Simmons to the Lakers would surely help to take the team over the top in an absolutely stacked Western Conference, but even during the most recent free agency period, many wondered how the duo would fit together. Would James be willing to defer the ball-handling duties to Simmons, and accept an off-ball role going into his sixteenth season in the NBA? And what about Simmons himself? Would he willingly forgo an opportunity to shine as the focal point of his own team just so he could help James squeak out a few more titles before his potentially greatest-of-all-time career comes to a close? That’s what Kevin Love and Chris Bosh did, and their status in the league ultimately suffered by playing second banana to James.
Say what you will about Simmons, but status appears to matter to the 22-year-old Rookie of the Year.
No, to me at least, Ben Simmons is already in the perfect position to succeed here in Philly. He currently headlines a two-headed monster in a major market city that now looks primed to establish themselves as the new Beasts of the East in a wide-open division. Furthermore, with an opportunity to pick up a super max contract worth more than $205 over five seasons (if he can make an All-NBA team and an All-Star team over the next two seasons) would Simmons seriously turn down that kind of generational money to spend his prime years as LeBron’s sidekick?
I doubt it.
Next. LeBron James continues to tease fans about almost joining team. dark
To put it simply: If LeBron James really wanted to play with Ben Simmons that badly, why didn’t he just sign with the Philadelphia 76ers in June?