Sixers send Simmons to Nets in blockbuster trade for Harden

Ben Simmons’ time in Philadelphia has come to an end after the Australian was sent to the Brooklyn Nets in a huge trade that also involved former NBA MVP James Harden.

Ben Simmons and James Harden will swap franchises after being involved in a blockbuster trade Source: Getty Images

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Simmons, who has not played a single second of 76ers basketball this season, will join the Nets along with Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks, with Paul Millsap going the other way.

Brooklyn will receive Philadelphia’s unprotected 2022 first-round pick, as well as a top-eight protected pick in 2027, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The blockbuster trade, one reportedly brewing in the lead-up to Friday’s deadline, puts an end to Simmons’ near-six-year stay in Philly, albeit some six months after he’d initially requested to leave.

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A game-seven defeat to Atalanta in the 2021 Eastern Conference semi-finals set the wheels in motion for the 25-year-old’s eventual exit, with teammate Joel Embiid joining an increasing chorus of public criticism aimed at the point guard.

Fast-forward an absence from training, suspension, and league-record list of fines, and Simmons finally has his wish.

“We’ve got work to do to get him back to play, but it’s a great step in the right direction,” Simmons’ agent, Rich Paul, told Wojnarowski.

Harden, too, now has work to do after exercising his US$47.4 million player option for the 2022-23 season as part of the trade.

The 10-time All-Star’s relationship with the Nets had reportedly broke down this past week, though no formal trade request was made – what would have been his second in a little over a year.

76ers brass are no stranger to the 32-year-old, with president of basketball operations Daryl Morey responsible for bringing him to Houston in 2012.

Morey will have high hopes for Harden as a result, along with coach Doc Rivers, who – alongside Embiid – now boasts one of the most fearsome offensive combinations across the Association.

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