Trade Rumors: Revisiting pros and cons of a Ben Simmons trade

Ignoring a bumpy week due to COVID-19 absences, the Cleveland Cavaliers are having an extremely strong season, its best start since 2017-18. This upstart season has been largely fueled by the growth of its young core, namely Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

Although just one game back of Cleveland in the standings, the narrative for the Philadelphia 76ers is wildly different. Despite a number of strong performances from individual players, as a team the Sixers were supposed to be contending and instead are scuffling, scoring just five points total more than their opponents this season.

Ben Simmons has been linked multiple times to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Should the Cavs consider such a trade?

The most direct path to the 76ers improving is finding a trade partner for Ben Simmons, their mercurial All-NBA point forward who has sat out the entire season thus far. Some of the most plugged-in people covering basketball continue to link the Cavs to Simmons, including Adrian Wojnarowski and John Hollinger just this week.

We have covered the possibility of a Ben Simmons trade before, from balancing the merits to evaluating potential lineups to even a straight-out appeal to make the trade. Yet the Simmons story has stayed quiet while the landscape changed around it. Let’s revisit the topic, first looking at what has changed for the Cavs, the 76ers and the league, and then using that context to go over the pros and cons of a Ben Simmons trade.