Ben Simmons swaps rumors: Kings don’t want De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton included in offer, report says

Ben Simmons is pressuring the Philadelphia 76ers to trade him, but the longer this saga stretches, the harder it will be for Daryl Morey to come up with a satisfactory deal. The team’s top decision maker has reportedly sought out a “Harden-esque” choice set in return for his 25-year-old All-Star, but so far no business partner has stepped up his efforts. In fact, one of the teams rumored to be interested in won’t include either of their top two young players.

According to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, the 76ers spoke to the Sacramento Kings earlier in the offseason about a possible deal with Simmons, but they were told the Kings would not include any of their valuable guards, De ‘ Aaron Fox or Tyrese Haliburton. This would allow them to strike a deal around much less valuable players in the league like Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley, as well as draft picks. At this point, it looks like the Sixers aren’t interested in such a package, so the Kings are an unlikely destination for Simmons.

Simmons would rather land with one of the three California teams, a Western Conference executive told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. It is not clear if the Kings are among those teams, but given that the alternatives are Golden State and the two Los Angeles teams, there is a strong possibility that they are not. Pompey reports that the Warriors have already turned down an offer involving Simmons. The Lakers and Clippers just don’t have what it takes to make a competitive offer.

The team that would pursue Simmons the most are the Minnesota Timberwolves, but they would be missing the kind of winning pieces that Philadelphia wants for Simmons. The 76ers have Joel Embiid, the MVP finalist, in his prime. They are unlikely to accept a package based primarily on choices, unless they think they can later turn those choices into something more immediately valuable.

At the moment, such an offer does not seem to be available to them, and they are running out of time to find one. Training camp will start later this month and Simmons is reportedly not attending. This will put more pressure on the 76ers to take the best possible offer, because the longer it drags on, the more leverage they lose.