According to a report from NJ.com, the Oklahoma City Thunder may lose Russell Westbrook without getting any deal in return akin to how they lost Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors. The report points out that this may be an opportunity that the Philadelphia 76ers will want to grab but it may mean letting go of Ben Simmons.
Simmons, the no. 1 pick from the draft, has been sought after by every team in the league and the report states that the 76ers may be focusing on building a brand-new team centered on young, talented and healthy players coming off college basketball.
It is further stated that the team would need to consider whether Simmons and Westbrook can even work together on the hardfloor. Westbrook is a known point-guard who likes to dominate the ball and take lead and Simmons is expected to play the exact same way as he is a promising point forward that could inherit the role of team leader.
With both players trying to take point it is likely they will not mesh well, explains the report, and the 76ers will need to decide on which player they will want to emphasize on. This may mean keeping Simmons and letting go of the opportunity of gaining Westbrook or recruiting Westbrook by trading Simmons to the Thunder.
David Aldridge of TNT posted via Twitter that the likelihood of Thunder keeping Westbrook was low and this may further convince the 76ers to consider trading to get him in the team.
However, it is stated that the team should first consider if Westbrook is even interested in staying with them for longer than a year or they might be wasting their potential with Simmons. If they trade out Simmons and Westbrook decides to play with them for only a year then by the 2018 season they'll have no star player left to take point.
