Ben Simmons‘ NBA career has been full of ups and downs, but the downs have been way more notable, and you can ask every single Brooklyn Nets fan about that.
The former first-overall pick has barely been on the court since arriving in Brooklyn, and a lot of people have already lost all faith in him as a future star of the league.
However, he’s still young and some other team could look to bring his career back from the ground. With that in mind, Bleacher Report put together a trade idea that would send him to the Toronto Raptors for Pascal Siakam.
NBA Rumors: Nets Could Trade For Pascal Siakam
(via Bleacher Report)
“Brooklyn Nets receive: Pascal Siakam
Toronto Raptors receive: Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas, 2027 first-round pick (top-eight protected, via PHI) and 2029 first-round pick (via DAL)
If the Nets legitimately have a star in Mikal Bridges—the soon-to-be 27-year-old certainly looked the part after his deadline deal to Brooklyn—then they should be looking to slot other stars around him.
They have a some solid-or-better role players in their supporting cast, but Bridges is their only player in or around the elite tier.
Making a mega-move for Pascal Siakam would change that.
The 29-year-old may not be a tier-one superstar, but he is a two-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA honoree who has been the second-best player on a world champion. While one may debate whether he or Bridges could carry an upper-half offense on their own, in tandem, they might hit most of the statistical marks expected from a first and second option.
And on defense, forget about it. They’d cover an absurd amount of ground together, and that’s before accounting for the many other stoppers Brooklyn would have on the roster, like Nic Claxton, Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale.
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Toronto, meanwhile, probably just needs to rip off the Band-Aid and fully embrace a rebuild already. Fred VanVleet and Nick Nurse are gone. Do the Raptors really think highly enough of their short-term outlook to pay what it could cost to keep both Siakam and O.G. Anunoby in free agency next summer?
Toronto should be looking for a way out, and this offer could suffice.”
Truth be told, this makes sense for all parties, as the Raptors simply cannot afford to let Siakam walk away as a free agent. The Nets, on the other hand, cannot keep waiting for Simmons anymore.