Boston Celtics: 3-team mega-deal to land Ben Simmons and Myles Turner

Why the Philadelphia 76ers do it

To say the 2019-20 season was a disappointment for the Philadelphia 76ers would be a complete understatement.

After going all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the eventual champions Toronto Raptors in 2018-19, the Sixers came into this past season with an unbelievable amount of hype and promise, being seen by many publications as the biggest threat to the Milwaukee Bucks to take the Eastern Conference crown.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Dealing with numerous injuries, chemistry issues, and oddly constructed lineups Philadelphia slid into the sixth seed out east, where they were eventually ousted by the Boston Celtics via sweep in the first round.

Now, with reported rifts between the team’s two stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the rumors have obviously started to circulate about how long this dynamic-duo has together before the team ultimately implodes.

Our proposed deal manages to separate the two centerpieces prior to any fireworks, while also arguably making the 76ers even better in the process.

Here, we see Philadelphia essentially exchanging an All-Star and a few role players in order to get two All-Stars in Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics and Victor Oladipo of the Indiana Pacers as well as Walker’s teammate, and current starting center of the Cs in Daniel Theis.

Though Simmons is obviously seen as the superior talent to both Walker and Oladipo, it is arguable that the swap of the point guards is more beneficial for this Philadelphia roster. One of the biggest slights of the 24-year-old’s game is the fact that he is an unquestioned offensive liability when 10 feet or more away from the basket.

Because of this, and their lack of shooters in their arsenal, Simmons’ drive-first scoring mentality has created somewhat of a log-jam down low, which severely hurt the team’s scoring versatility — ranked 22nd in 3-pointers attempted and 19th in 3-pointers made.

Walker, on the other hand, just posted some of the best scoring numbers of his career, averaging 20.4 points while shooting 38 percent shooting from deep on 8.4 attempts.

Though he may be a few slots below Simmons in the position’s pecking order, replacing an All-NBA point guard with an All-NBA point guard is perhaps one of the best swaps you can possibly do.

Add in the fact that they’d also be bringing on the All-Star two-guard in Oladipo — who has averaged 17.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.7 steals per game on 45 percent shooting from the floor and 35 percent shooting from deep for his career — and the underrated floor-spacing/ defensive-minded center in Theis — ranked second only to Rudy Gobert in Defensive Real Plus-Minus in 2019-20 — and you’ve got yourself a great return package.

A starting lineup of Kemba Walker, Victor Oladipo, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, and Joel Embiid would rival any other the league would have to offer and gives the Sixers one of the best Big-3s in the NBA.