What If the Sixers Traded Joel Embiid?

Let’s get one thing out of the way right now… the thought of actually trading Joel Embiid should never ever EVER even begin to cross the minds of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Buhhhhhhttttttt….. If the Sixers were to trade their best player since Allen Iverson and build around Ben Simmons, what would that look like? Well, it would look a lot like the Milwaukee Bucks, who have built around Giannis Antentokoumpo to become one of the most dominant teams in the NBA by surrounding him with shooters. Since Embiid went down with a finger injury, the Sixers have adopted that same philosophy by plugging Al Horford in as a stretch 5. They’ve also experimented with going as far as Simmons playing the hypothetical 5. As a result, Ben Simmons has played some of the best basketball of his career. Obviously, this team without Embiid is not competing for titles, but the Sixers could get a LOAD in return if they actually looked to trade him. How good would this team be if they paired Ben Simmons with a Damian Lillard? Bradley Beal?  Adding a superstar guard and/or a few high end role players would keep this team in contention for a title while allowing Ben Simmons to reach his full potential. But, the most important thing to consider: with Ben at his full potential and a stronger cast of role players around him, does that get this team any closer to a title? Probably not. It probably screams 5 seed in the East…and here we are.

So to recap, as enticing as some of these options are, none of them are better than having Joel freaking Embiid. He is not going anywhere. We’ve all wasted our time hypothetically considering it. JoJo is back next week…let’s make a run.