How might Ben Simmons trade rumors affect the Lakers?

Another day, another update-that-wasn’t-really-an-update on Ben Simmons’ potential next team. Interestingly enough, today’s “news” was technically broken all the way back on Friday, on last week’s episode of “The Hook.”

Check out league insider Aaron Larsuel:

Morey being willing to risk this season in order to maybe reunite with James Harden this offseason raises all kinds of questions, so I figured I’d ask some of them to our old friend Jas Kang, who now does what I do, but while covering the Sixers for Liberty Ballers.

We started with the notion of wasting the kind of season Joel Embiid has put together to this point. Honestly, from just a basketball perspective, Daryl Morey and Simmons are committing a crime against the sport. You just never know how often seasons like this might happen with players as big as Embiid who move the way he does. It’s not often fans in Philadelphia can become sympathetic figures, but here we are.

From there, we jumped into the kind of move Jas thinks the Sixers should be looking for and whether one such deal might be something the Lakers can put together. I wouldn’t hold your breath, Lakers fans. It doesn’t sound like the Sixers are all that interested in anything involving Russell Westbrook, even if they would be able to get rid of Tobias Harris’ contract in the process.

A big part of whether Philadelphia would make a drastic move ahead of the deadline is whether everyone from ownership on down are on the same page. Unfortunately for teams hoping to take advantage of the situation, everyone seems to be rowing in the same direction — as weird as that might seem given the stakes and circumstances.

Still though, whether it’s because the Lakers get directly involved with trade talks or Simmons gets moved to a team with title aspirations, he is still the kind of player who can alter the entire championship outlook. So it’s always worth checking in on, especially with people monitoring the situation as closely as Jas has been.

You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.