The rebuilding Cleveland Cavaliers are hunting for their next batch of superstars but not necessarily the replacements for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Said to be on the scope of the former NBA champions is Sixers star Ben Simmons, who recently dislocated his knee cap.
It is believed that the 24-year-old is out for the season but the Cavs are shooting for the upcoming battles. They see the guard, one of the key players in the Sixers roster, as the future, and the team is convinced that Simmons will agree to relocate to Ohio.
That's the analysis coming from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who claimed that the Cavaliers have the package that will convince Philadelphia to loosen the grip on Simmons.
"The Cavs believe they have enough to assemble an enticing package, especially with recent first-rounders littering the roster, a top-six pick coming in October and a future first from the Milwaukee Bucks," Bleacher Report quoted Fedor as saying.
Simmons is a certified NBA star and the Sixers are hoping that his partnership with Joel Embiid will soon make Philadelphia the toast of the basketball world again. But this prospect seemed to get dim by the season as the guard continues to struggle with nagging health issues.
The report stressed that Simmons has all the qualities that could propel the Sixers to the winning league but his efforts since joining the team in 2016 have been stymied by a string of injuries.
The situation has been frustrating and Fedor said Cleveland might be counting on the possibility that with the latest injury that sent Simmons home, the Sixers would finally consider moving on, and that is without the injury-plagued star.
NBC Sports said releasing Simmons in the offseason makes sense for Philadelphia. The player is confirmed to require another surgery to his knee and what happens after that points to just too many variables.
It could be that the Sixers guard will never be the same again and the report suggested that Simmons would likely be more susceptible to injury after this latest episode.
Should that be the case, then it is wise on Philadelphia's part to simply focus on Joel Embiid, who the report said could turn out to be a more dangerous big man with greater space available for his operations on the floor. And this will be made possible by the exit of Simmons.
And without Simmons, other Sixers stars will get the opportunity to shine like Al Horford reacquiring his spot on the first five.
Also, the opening that will be afforded by Simmons's exit will give the Sixers the chance to beef up the roster, which should prompt the Philadelphia front office to take up on the trade offer coming from Cleveland.
