Warriors make it pretty clear they aren’t trading for Ben Simmons

In an interview on Tuesday, Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob made it clear that the Warriors were not looking to trade for Ben Simmons.

One thing is for certain, Ben Simmons will never play for the Philadelphia 76ers again. He’s made that much very clear. He also won’t be suiting up in a Golden State Warriors uniform any time soon, according to recent comments by Warriors owner Joe Lacob.

From the onset of the Simmons and 76ers drama, Golden State has been a team mentioned as a potential landing spot for the former No. 1 overall pick. It’s been reported that the Warriors were a team Simmons, himself, was interested in going to and that the team had some interest in Simmons.

But Lacob should have assuaged all of the ‘Simmons to Golden State’ quandary in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday. “In some ways, it doesn’t really fit what we’re doing,” Lacob said. “He makes a lot of money. And, can he finish games? I don’t know.”

Read between the lines and it’s clear the Warriors aren’t trading for Ben Simmons

Fit wise, Simmons and Warriors forward Draymond Green are adjacent to one another. Both are non-shooters with high playmaking abilities and Defensive Player of the Year-level defensive IQ. Having both on the court at the same time would be frightening for opposing offenses but also disastrous for the Warriors’ offense, as their lack of floor spacing or a willingness to score, would cause more hiccups than good.

“He’s very talented. The problem is: We have Draymond. Draymond and him are very similar in the sense that neither one really shoots and they do a lot of the playmaking. That’s one issue,” Lacob said.

Financially, Golden State is already set to pay out $176.8 million to their roster as is and would not be able to absorb Simmons’ $33 million contract without having to give up one of their core guys in Green or Andrew Wiggins, alongside some other young promising talent.

While Simmons is definitely a better player than Wiggins, his lack of an outside shot, while potentially paired Green could prove to be hazardous and that alone makes Wiggins, who shoots 38 percent from downtown on a little over five attempts a game (per Basketball-Reference), more valuable to Golden State.

The Warriors go into this season with deep playoffs aspirations, something they haven’t experienced since their 2019 Finals appearance. Simmons would surely help those aspirations but the Dubs do not intend on altering their roster before the season begins, according to Lacob.

“I like our team,” general manager Bob Myers said, “and I envision that the team we have will be the team that heads into camp and will be the team that starts the season.”