Is it worth it for the Los Angeles Lakers to trade for Ben Simmons?
The best deal for the Los Angeles Lakers would be to unload some of the failed experiments from last season like Schroder and Harrell and getting rid of their own young player who has failed to improve at the rate most expected him to, Kyle Kuzma. If the Sixers were desperate enough to get rid of him for this package of players, which is highly unlikely, it should be a no-brainer move for them.
However, it would probably take a lot more than that for Philly to pull the trigger, so this move might not be in the best interest for the Lakers to get back into title contention next season. They could be better off going after a more familiar face with a similar game to Simmons that has already fixed his broken jump shot, Lonzo Ball, who they could sign in free agency.
They could also make other trades that would ensure improvement and be less of a gamble, like trading for Spencer Dinwiddie like they almost did at the trade deadline. Or they could go after another proven shooter or scorer available in the trade market like Kyle Lowry or Malcolm Brogdon.
The case against a move for Simmons gets even stronger when you look back on what the Lakers legend Kobe Bryant had to say about him, saying
"“He’s gotta get a jump shot.”"
This clip is making Bryant look like a basketball Nostradamus right about now, and he even went into more detail on the subject in his show Detail: Kobe Bryant Breaking Down Ben Simmons that showed the flaws in Simmons game because of his lack of outside shooting and poor effort setting screens and filling proper gaps on offense.
Maybe this had something to do with Shaquille O’Neal, who lacked any sort of jump shot as well and would get sent to the free-throw line constantly on purpose, similar to Simmons. But at least Shaq could still score and would never pass up an open layup, and Simmons somehow even posted the worst free-throw shooting percentage in playoff history this past season at 34 percent.
The case for this move could possibly be that Simmons is on Anthony Davis’ timeline and could be there to pair with him in the future when LeBron inevitably retires and could be a poor man’s version of James, and would form a big three while is still there.
On the other hand, the case against it is more glaringly obvious because it is probably a bad idea to put the worst shooter in the NBA on a team that struggled to hit 3-point shots all of last season.
So, the simple answer to the question in the title is, no even though it would add another all-star to the roster the Lakers should stay away from buying low on Simmons unless Philly excepts an offer way below his value.