NBA executive: Mavericks a 'team to watch' to trade for Ben Simmons

While most other NBA teams would be holding their noses when it comes to Ben Simmons, one contending club may be seeing an opportunity.

Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney spoke this week with an unnamed Western Conference executive who said that the Dallas Mavericks are “a team to watch” in a potential trade for the Brooklyn Nets star Simmons.

This comes after another report last week said that an unspecified West team recently showed interest in Simmons, the former No. 1 overall pick.

The Luka Doncic-led Mavericks are 5-3 to start the new season. They have the floor spacing to survive a Simmons acquisition since they are equipped with a center (Christian Wood) who is shooting a smoking 48% on 3s this season. 

But unless Simmons is willing to come off the bench for Dallas, he would inevitably displace one of Dorian Finney-Smith (a strong defender and adequate 3-point shooter), Reggie Bullock (a strong 3-point shooter and adequate defender), or Spencer Dinwiddie (another shot creator and ball-handler alongside Doncic) in the starting lineup.

The list of negatives with Simmons is lengthy. Other than his 3-point inabilities, Simmons is averaging a triple-single this season (6-6-7), has a history of back and attitude problems, and has spawned some concerning theories from NBA scouts. 

He is also only in the third season of a five-year, $177M millstone of a contract. But if Dallas is intrigued by Simmons’ defensive upside and wants to send out a bad contract or two of their own to match (like Davis Bertans or Tim Hardaway Jr.), perhaps an unlikely deal could be reached here.