Los Angeles Lakers: A trade that puts Ben Simmons in the Pacific division

The Los Angeles Lakers are not in the running to trade for Ben Simmons, who continues an ongoing saga with the Philadelphia 76ers. Simmons is a Klutch Sports client, but despite his ties to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, a trade to LA simply does not work logistically.

However, Simmons could still very well come to the Pacific Division and become a player that the Lakers see more than twice a year. We already broke down the one Western Conference contender that the Lakers should hope doesn’t trade for Simmons. Today, we break down the division opponent that could make a trade happen.

No, the in-division team that we are alluding to is not the Golden State Warriors. There has been some speculation about Simmons ending up in the Bay Area but the Warriors are probably better off without giving up assets for him.

Instead, Simmons could wind up being traded for a player that the Los Angeles Lakers nearly traded for.

The team we are alluding to is the Sacramento Kings and the player that the Los Angeles Lakers nearly traded for is Buddy Hield. Hield alone would not get the job done for Sacramento, who would likely include another promising young asset.

At this point, Ben Simmons’ trade value is at an all-time low for the Philadelphia 76ers and they are not going to get another star in return for Simmons. However, they can still get some complementary pieces from a team like the Kings, who are never a free-agent destination and have to trade for any stars they acquire.

The 76ers actually get a pretty good return for Simmons in this deal. Buddy Hield is a great three-point shooter who would help the floor spacing of the 76ers. While he is not a star, he is a great option to play alongside an MVP candidate in Joel Embiid and another over-qualified role player in Tobias Harris.

Bagley is the potential in this deal. Marvin Bagley’s agent put out a statement after the Kings took him out of the rotation and it is clear that the relationship is coming to an end. While Bagley has not been great thus far in his career, he is still really young and the Kings are not a team that is known to make the most of young players.

Sure, the Philly media is tough but there would be much lower expectations for the former second-overall pick. Bagley helps space the floor and if it works out then the 76ers could have a really promising frontcourt of Bagley and Embiid.

As far as the Kings are concerned, they would be trading a player that they seemingly almost traded for pretty average rotation players from the Los Angeles Lakers. The Bagley train has left the station and it makes sense to get value out of him while they can.

As mentioned, the Kings are not a free-agent destination. The logic for them (that probably would not work out) is that Simmons is a star that can help attract other free agents.

For Simmons, a team like Sacramento is perfect as he would get to put up good numbers with literally zero pressure on a team that is not going to make any sort of noise.

It is a perfect trade all-around as far as I am concerned and in an interesting way, the Los Angeles Lakers not trading for Hield could actually lead to Ben Simmons coming in the division.