The NBA regular season begins in just over two months and Ben Simmons has yet to be traded by the Philadelphia 76ers. One team continuing to at least monitor the Simmons situation is the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to multiple insiders.
“Minnesota is one team that has been persistent with Philadelphia, but they really need to have a third and even four teams in those kinds of deals to get Philly what they really want,” said ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Get Up Tuesday morning.
"Minnesota's one team that has been persistent with Philadelphia [in pursuit of a Ben Simmons trade]."
—@wojespn 👀 pic.twitter.com/FKHIT5keaX
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 17, 2021
Wojnarowksi’s report echoes what The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski said on the Talk North podcast on Monday, noting that Minnesota’s roster doesn’t currently have enough assets to land Simmons without adding a third team with a star player into the discussion.
“It does seem that, at least right now, the market is pretty dry for Ben Simmons,” said Krawczynski. “The Timberwolves continue to have conversations with the Sixers. They need to find a third team to get a player Philly really wants to get to kind of really facilitate a trade and make it realistic, and that’s why it’s unlikely and that’s why it’s going to be really hard, especially before the season.”
Krawczynski tossed in the caveat that the price for Simmons could drop as the season gets closer, with pressure perhaps mounting on Philly to make a trade to avoid an “ugly” situation when the season begins.
Bleacher Report Jake Fischer says the Wolves, Warriors, Kings and Spurs have all been “consistently linked as a top Simmons destination, yet the overwhelming sense among league insiders continues to be that Simmons, for now, is expected to remain a Sixer once training camp opens on September 28—barring a change of temperature with Damian Lillard in Portland.”
The Lillard variable is based on speculation that he could ask for a trade, but that has yet to happen, at least publicly.
Fischer reports that “Minnesota officials remain motivated in landing Simmons,” though doing so would be “nothing short of a home run.”
Earlier Tuesday, the Timberwolves reportedly agreed to trade Jarrett Culver and Juancho Hernangomez to the Grizzlies for veteran point guard Patrick Beverley.
NBA training camps open Sept. 28 and the regular season begins Oct. 19.
Minnesota wraps up Summer League play in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
