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Ben Simmons saga trade dominoes: Tracking the paths of players connected to Sixers rumors

Simmons has been linked to teams all over the league. So as the NBA trade deadline approaches, players floated as Sixers trade targets are dropping off the board.

Ben Simmons take the floor during practice on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021., at the Seventy Sixers Practice Facility in Camden, N.J.
Ben Simmons take the floor during practice on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021., at the Seventy Sixers Practice Facility in Camden, N.J.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer
    by Staff Reports
    Published 

The Ben Simmons saga has been a year-long undertaking with rumors swirling around the 76ers star since the summer, when he demanded a trade and told team brass he planned to skip training camp.

In that time, trade rumors have connected the disgruntled star to franchises and players across the league. The Sixers have surveyed the trade landscape and passed on most of these overtures. The team appears locked in on acquiring James Harden, but there is no guarantee at the moment that he will land in Philly.

» READ MORE: ‘It’s been crazy’: Joel Embiid reflects on eight years of NBA trade deadlines and ‘The Process’

Because of that, The Inquirer finds it important to keep you up to date on past Simmons suitors. Here, we intend to lend a hand and point out dominoes as they fall across the league.

CJ McCollum to the Pelicans

The trade deadline action kicked off when CJ McCollum was shipped to the New Orleans Pelicans, breaking up the Portland Trail Blazers’ prolific backcourt. McCollum and his teammate Damian Lillard, who is now the lone star on the team, have been linked to Simmons at different periods in the last year.

No matter how serious those rumors were, McCollum is now taken off the board as a potential Simmons trade target. He joins Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson in New Orleans.

Tyrese Haliburton to the Pacers

As The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey reported, the Sacramento Kings were serious about acquiring Simmons. In the deal the Kings considered, they would send Buddy Hield, Tyrese Haliburton, Harrison Barnes and two first-round picks to the Sixers for Simmons, Tobias Harris and Matisse Thybulle.

That deal is no more after the Kings shipped Haliburton, Hield and Tristan Thompson to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb and Justin Holiday.