Former San Antonio Spurs forward Bruce Bowen thinks that head coach and team president Gregg Popovich would be open to trading any player on the Spurs’ roster in a deal for Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons.
Bruce Bowen on ESPN San Antonio 1250 AM/94.5 FM:
"I know Pop very well and I assure you they would trade anyone on the Spurs roster for Ben Simmons"
— Noah Magaro-George (@N_Magaro) June 22, 2021
Bowen’s comment may alarm some Spurs fans, as a lot of people are very low on Simmons. Many fans even perceive him to be a liability.
San Antonio has an exciting young foundation highlighted by 24-year-old Dejounte Murray, and it’s safe to assume that a good portion of Spurs fans would be irate over giving up a player of Murray’s caliber in a trade for Simmons.
Simmons does bring a lot to the table. He is an elite defender, as his 6-foot-11 height gives him the ability to defend virtually any player at any position.
Offensively, Simmons struggles in two key areas. He is seemingly incapable of developing a jump shot, and he also struggles mightily at the charity stripe.
He does his best to make up for it by distributing the ball and getting rebounds. In the 2020-21 regular season, he averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game.
There has been a lot of speculation about Simmons potentially being moved this offseason after he performed poorly in the 2021 NBA Playoffs.
