It’s Unbelievable Ben Simmons Was Traded For James Harden
Wednesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers welcomed the Brooklyn Nets and Ben Simmons to the Wells Fargo Center for a matchup between two of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference standings. With Kevin Durant sidelined by injury, it wasn’t exactly the marquee matchup that it could’ve been, but there was a chance we would get to see a first ever in the contest: Ben Simmons vs. Joel Embiid. While Simmons has played the Sixers since the trade last deadline, and Embiid has played the Nets, the two had never shared the floor at the same time as opponents. Embiid was listed as questionable with a foot injury on the final injury report, so there was a question as to whether or not we would get to see that this time around, but when opening tip came, 21 was out there for Philly, as was 10 for Brooklyn. It was a very intriguing matchup in a meaningful game.
That, though, was not the comparison that needed to be made. We know the beef between Simmons and Embiid, and it was great to see Joel go for 26 and 10, but the real play that stood out was the difference between the Sixers’ former franchise point guard and their current one in James Harden. Of course, Harden was the prize in return for Simmons last season in a trade with Brooklyn, and while Seth Curry and Andre Drummond also headed to the Nets in the deal, the cornerstones were certainly the two point guards. After this most recent matchup, I don’t ever want to hear a debate about who won that trade. It’s clearly the Sixers, and it’s not close.
Last night, Simmons finished with a very low-energy 12, 5, and 5 after spending the entire 1st half of the game not scoring a single point. Prior to halftime, he looked like the typical disengaged Simmons that we knew here in Philly, scared to even look at the basket for more than a millisecond. Ben Simmons, right before our very eyes, has descended from budding superstar to glorified role player. Meanwhile, James Harden dropped 23 points and had 7 assists as well, which, if flipped for Simmons, would’ve been the difference in the Sixers’ 4 point victory in the game. Harden shoots the basketball, frankly is a better passer, and has the better temperament day in and day out than Simmons. It was strikingly clear with the two on the same floor who was the better player. No better sequence demonstrated that than one where Simmons, scared to attack the rim, lightly shot a floater off the front rim like a middle schooler, then Harden pushed the ball, threw a pass past Simmons to Embiid in the post, who then emphatically dunked. There is still a long way to go for the Sixers as a team, but there should be no doubt as to who won the Simmons-Harden trade. It was Philly all along.
