Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
NBA Trade Rumors: Spurs Salvage Ben Simmons From Nets?
The San Antonio Spurs have a lot of cap space to work with this summer, even if their title window may not even be open for the foreseeable future.
Either the cap space gets used and the Spurs find a way to benefit from it, or it just rots away.
However, the Spurs might be able to fill it by trading for disgruntled Brooklyn Nets forward Ben Simmons, who might be on the final legs of his career and looking for a fresh start ... one that San Antonio could provide.
"It seems clear Ben Simmons would benefit from a fresh start in a low-stakes environment, which makes the stable, rebuilding Spurs the ideal destination for his hypothetical career resuscitation," Bleacher Report writes.
Bleacher Report suggested that the Spurs could acquire Simmons for Doug McDermott and a 2023 first-round pick from the Phoenix Suns. It might not be worth it for the Spurs to withdraw a piece of their future for two years of Simmons, but San Antonio could negotiate a way to get some draft capital out of the Nets.
"If the Spurs demanded a first-rounder in exchange for all the cap relief they'd be giving the Nets, it wouldn't be out of bounds," Bleacher Report writes. "If Brooklyn determined Simmons' worth was too low to trade him at all, and that it might be better to wait and see if improved health opens up the market at the 2024 deadline, that might also be sensible."
Trading Simmons in the offseason as opposed to the trade deadline would likely be better for all parties involved, and a move to the Spurs and coach Gregg Popovich could be exactly what the former No. 1 overall pick needs.
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