The NBA offseason is always full of surprises as teams look to add valuable pieces to their roster to increase their chances to win the upcoming Championship. Some of the teams have done that in this offseason as well. The likes of Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets have made some good signings and are favourites for the upcoming NBA season.
However, one name which is most talked about in the offseason market has to be Philadelphia 76ers star, Ben Simmons. The Australian has cut all ties with the Sixers front office after a horrible playoffs exit for the franchise last season. While the young guard is looking to move out of Philadelphia, there are no official trades at the moment. But even NBA Analyst Shaquille O’Neal feels that Ben Simmons’ exit from Philly is a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.
Former Lakers star Shaquille O’Neal recently sat down with Complex for an interview. He spoke at length on a lot of things and being an NBA Analyst he also spoke about the offseason and there Simmons’ future talks came up. Therefore he made some statements regarding the Australian guard’s future in the NBA.
While Shaq could relate to Simmons’ condition at the moment as he as a former player also moved around in the league. But one thing the former Lakers man could confirm was that the Australian will not be a Sixer at the start of the upcoming season.
Shaq said: “I say no. He hasn’t had a lot of communication with them this summer. He hasn’t gotten any better over the last four years. If you don’t have communication upstairs it’s not going to go well. Philly fans gave up on him, or are starting to give up on him. It’ll probably be good for him to go somewhere else. But I follow him and he’s been shooting that jumper on his page. So if he does come back his jumper better be Steph Curry’s.”
Shaq still has a lot of belief in the youngster but he also admits that Simmons need to show a lot of improvement in the coming NBA season. He has set the Australian some high benchmarks in the next couple of seasons.
For now, the Golden State Warriors are interested in Ben Simmons and it could very well be a three-way trade. The trade may also include the Sacramento Kings apart from the Warriors and the Sixers. There can be a situation where Philly might end up securing the services of Buddy Hield, Tyrese Haliburton, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. With the Warriors getting Ben Simmons and Marvin Bagley II and the Kings ending up with James Wiseman, Andrew Wiggins and Shake Milton. It could be a big deal for all three franchises but the Sixers will benefit the most out of it as they will get a truckload of young talents.
