The February deadline has already passed, and trade deals have been made, and none of them involved Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers. Still, the rumors of Embiid joining up with a new team persist and interested clubs are supposedly making preparations just in case the Sixers make the long-anticipated move.
The conversations on the topic are still ongoing, based on the recent claims made by ESPN's Brian Windhorst. The journalist seemed convinced the All-Star is an asset that Philadelphia would be willing to use to acquire what the team needs.
"It's such a radical thing, but the fact that we're in mid-February and the people who work in the league, who have to prepare in advance, are mulling over Joel Embiid potentially coming to market," Clutch Points reported Windhorst as saying.
Windhorst insisted that speculations on Embiid getting traded in the summer are alive and kicking. The most obvious point of discussion is: If indeed the power forward will soon move out of Philadelphia, where he is playing next?
On that question, there should be no shortage of proposals for Embiid. He certainly is a killer on the paint, and his season performance so far showed 22.8 points per game, complemented by 12 rebounds and no less than three assists in each outing.
Both on paper and how things unfold on the court for Embiid, the Sixers star is surely a magnet for trade bids, and per the same report, rumors of him transferring to a new city will only continue if Philadelphia fails to stay a bit longer in the playoffs.
The same applies to Ben Simmons, who operates nearly the same way when playing on the court. In fact, this has been the chief driver of the trade rumors on the two players. It's hard to imagine Embiid and Simmons creating balance for the Sixers when both deployed, so it is a tandem that will best serve when separated.
However, the duplication of skillsets is not the best argument to break up the Embiid-Simmons partnership, according to NBC Sports.
"Make no mistake, Embiid and Simmons are far from perfect together, but nothing in sports or life is. You do the best you can with the pieces you're provided and try to make it work," the report argued, adding that instead of splitting up the tandem, the Sixers should just focus on looking for talents that will support Embiid and Simmons.
Besides, it would seem that Philadelphia is not inclined to make changes involving the two Sixers stars. GM Elton Brand, the report said, is focused more on taking advantage of the assets his team already has.
"We just need to figure out how those pieces fit. I think you can play very fast when you have Ben. The playoffs are going to slow down, and you have a dominant post player you can play through also. I think it's a good problem to have, if it's a problem," Brand was reported as saying.
