With less than a month away until the NBA trade deadline, chatter of a potential Ben Simmons trade has continued to pick up. The All-Star guard has not suited up for the Philadelphia 76ers this season, and thanks to the team’s high asking price to acquire his services, Simmons has been stuck in a holding pattern all season.
One team that has been linked to Simmons is the Sacramento Kings, which are desperate to make the postseason for the first time in 15 years. There’s been reporting that Philly is interested in a deal where they’d land De’Aaron Fox or Tyrese Haliburton, and according to a new report by Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, there have been conversations recently about Fox heading to the City of Brotherly Love. They have, however, not gotten particularly far down the road.
The Philadelphia 76ers canvassed the prospect of a Fox, Ben Simmons trade package as recently as a few days ago, but dialogue remains exploratory due diligence, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
It has been reported by Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice that the Sixers’ interest in Fox would “almost certainly” come via a three-team trade where the standout guard can be routed elsewhere so they can get the kind of haul back for Simmons that they want. There’s also the chance that Fox just sticks around in Sacramento — Haynes reported that the Kings’ hope is that they can hold onto both Fox and Haliburton and build around them going forward.
On the season, Fox is averaging 20.9 points, 5.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 34.3 minutes per game. Sacramento sits at 17-27 on the year, which puts them in 11th place in the Western Conference and half a game behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final spot in the play-in tournament. The 2022 NBA trade deadline is on Tuesday, Feb. 10.