The Spurs reportedly were interested in a Murray-Walker deal for Simmons, and this package has them sending out the same basic construction, but with more assets that might be to the 76ers liking. The Spurs have a roster full of complimentary shooters and defenders, plus a solid secondary ballhandler in Derrick White that could allow Simmons to be used as a roll man on occasion. The Spurs could start Simmons-White-Keldon-McDermott-Poeltl and have a solid bench of Tre Jones-Shake-Vassell-Zach Collins-Luka Samanic. Josh Primo can do the old San Antonio classic and spend his first year in the G-League, as he is the youngest player in the draft after all. Al-Faruoq Aminu also gives them another solid 3-D option in case of injury or underperformance by any of its rotation players. And if Simmons’s fit with Poeltl ends up being less than ideal, the Spurs can always experiment with starting Samanic or Collins at the 5 for more shooting. In a really un-Pop-like move, they could even try out using Simmons at the 5, and bumping someone like Aminu or Vassell into the starting lineup to create a really switchable unit. The fact that they’re not giving up any of their own picks is a nice add also.

For the 76ers, a package like this is mostly giving up on acquiring a superstar like Lillard, as the Blazers are unlikely to want a package headlined by a player like Murray. Still though, even though Embiid just signed an extension, his health is always iffy. If the 76ers can get a package that they think improves their chances of winning a chip over the next year or two (without bankrupting the asset chest), they should probably take it. Dejounte Murray is one of the few players that has been offered to the 76ers that roughly approximates what Simmons produces. He is a dynamite defender, but not a guy that hunts his own shot at all, which makes him very different from Beal, Lillard, McCollum, Wiggins, Hield, DLo, or any other theoretical players the Sixers could get in return for Simmons. He’s not a knockdown shooter by any stretch, but he’s averaged a competent 33.5% on 3 attempts per-36 over the last two seasons. At the very least, defense attempt to guard him out there. His playmaking is nowhere near Simmons’s level, but he did average a career high 5.4 assists per game. Tobias has always been a solid playmaker, and Seth Curry exploded as a ball handler and secondary playmaker in the playoffs, so shifting to more of a committee approach with Murray, Tobi, and Seth initiating the offense might be able to reproduce most of what Simmons provided. The extra spacing around Embiid post ups would be a very welcome sight as well. As for the rest of the assets, Lonnie Walker is essentially Shake Milton with a higher ceiling, and his sparkplug scoring could make for a killer one-two punch off the bench alongside Maxey. Assuming Matisse is the backup 3 and Andre Drummond is the backup 5, there’s only one spot at backup 4 for three solid players: Furkan Korkmaz, Georges Niang, and Thaddeus Young. But Thad provides size and defense in a way that no one else on the team really does. Matisse, Murray, and arguably Danny Green are lockdown defenders on the perimeter, but are a little light to match up with some of the bigger guys like Giannis or even KD that the 76ers will need to get through in the playoffs. Thad gives the 76ers a different option there, and might be similar to PJ Tucker in his role, and could even start over Green in certain matchups when more size is needed. Additionally, if Drummond or Embiid gets hurt (or if Drummond gets played off the floor in the playoffs), Thad gives the 76ers both a new look with a small ball 5 capable of passing and a little shooting like a poor mans Draymond. Paul Reed could factor into the same backup-4/third-string-5 rotation too, and he’s dominated the G League, but Doc Rivers has yet to trust him on a larger stage, so Thad would be excellent veteran security.