5 NBA teams that already need to make a trade

1. The Philadelphia Special

Let’s be honest, this was always going to be the 76ers. The Ben Simmons saga needs to reach its conclusion with the player finding a new home. It all could have wrapped up in the offseason but Daryl Morey overplayed his hand, Simmons’ value tanked in the interim and now he won’t get the king’s ransom he originally held out for.

The early rumor mill buzz from the 76ers said they would only move Simmons for Damian Lillard. Maybe that comes to fruition and the Occam’s Razor of speculative trades gets done. But, what if Morey was able to land an all-star and a helpful secondary piece — both in their primes and under team control past this season — who reasonably fit the roster and would keep Philadelphia among the East’s elite? That’d be hard to pass up, right? Especially since it would alleviate the league’s biggest distraction.

Look, it’s not four first-round picks or bringing Dame Time to the City of Brotherly Love. What it does though is and patch over the void left by Simmons. Indiana’s off to a slow start, only ahead of Detroit and Orlando in the east. Taking a big swing to try and restore an elite talent would make sense for a team stuck in mediocrity with no clear pathway upward.