Getty Image / Tim Nwachukwu
- The Philadelphia 76ers landed a new star at the NBA trade deadline
- It turns out Joel Embiid may have wanted a different star first
- Read more BroBible articles here
It would appear there is a common thread between just about everybody involved in the James Harden-Ben Simmons trade. Nobody actually got what they wanted.
Ben Simmons wanted Philadelphia 76ers fans to like him. James Harden claims he wanted to be a 6er a year ago. According to Bill Simmons, Joel Embiid didn’t originally want James Harden.
Simmons reported on his podcast yesterday that Joel Embiid actually wanted Bradley Beal before the 76ers landed Harden. I can’t say I blame him.
New BS Podcast!
** Unanswerable NBA questions, leftover deadline gossip + biggest WOW trades of the decade w/ my old teammate @ZachLowe_NBA
** Creating ‘Super Pumped’ during a pandemic w/ @briankoppelman @DavidLevienListen on Spotify: https://t.co/vXVDZdNbi7 pic.twitter.com/6GcEBMUKg0
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) February 24, 2022
To begin with, Bradley Beal is 4 years younger than James Harden, which would give Embiid and the 76ers a much bigger window to contend for a title than Harden gives them. He’s also more than $10 million dollars cheaper than Harden.
Then there’s the matter of their play on the court. You could very easily make the argument that Bradley Beal is currently a better player than James Harden. Beal has averaged more points per game than Harden over the last two seasons than Harden and has made a higher percentage of his shot attempts. Harden provides more assists, but Beal is still a solid distributor.
There’s also the difference on the defensive end of the floor. James Harden is notorious for his porous defense. Bradley Beal might not exactly be in the running for Defensive Player of the Year, but he’s definitely more of an asset on that end of the floor than Harden.
If a trade for Bradley Beal was ever actually an option for the Philadelphia 76ers, then they should have listened to Joel Embiid and made it happen.