Report: Pacers involved in Simmons talks, Caris LeVert brought up

The 2021-22 season is underway! Well, at least the preseason aspect of it.

While there’s newfound hope and excitement surrounding the season, the looming shadow that is the Ben Simmons trade saga still lingers over the Sixers. Of course, trade rumors and reports come alongside with that. We are used to it by now.

This report comes from Ian Begley of SNYTV, who recently provided some details into some of the Ben Simmons trade talks:

League sources confirm that the Pacers are among the teams who have talked to the Philadelphia 76ers about a potential Simmons trade. Caris LeVert was among the players brought up in those communications, per SNY sources. It is unknown if talks between Philadelphia and Indiana have progressed beyond run-of-the-mill contact.

We knew the Indiana Pacers were quietly involved in Ben Simmons’ talks. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst even listed them as a “sleeper team” in the trade discussions. What is noteworthy from this report is that we actually got a player name that is being discussed, which hasn’t really been mentioned for the majority of the offseason. Most of the reports have come from the Sixers side of things, and who/what they want.

Caris LeVert is a very talented player that has struggled with injuries in the past. He actually has a stress fracture in his back at the time of this report, however it’s been reported by Adrian Wojnarowski that the team doesn’t expect it to be a long-term problem and that he’ll likely be able to return soon.

This report may give us a look into the caliber of player the Sixers are looking for as nobody really knows where Simmons’ trade value truly is.

It’s also important to point out the final sentence in this section of the report; about how it’s unknown if talks have progressed beyond run-of-the-mill contact. Teams talk all the time, and this could be Indiana or Philadelphia just discussing some possible scenarios with very little to no traction on a deal.

But, I (and most likely you) love trade talks. So let’s just briefly assume for fun that the Sixers/Pacers are legitimately interested in a deal surrounding Simmons/LeVert. From Indiana’s perspective, it makes a ton of sense. They get a star-caliber player to build with that they probably couldn’t get in free agency. From Philly’s perspective, it makes some sense, but also comes with its fair share of red flags.

The Sixers need a capable perimeter scoring talent and LeVert can do that. It is far from a flawless trade, however, as it doesn’t solve the need for a new point guard (unless the team is sold on Maxey being that this season). As mentioned before too, LeVert has had some serious injury concerns. Pairing LeVert with Joel Embiid, who has also had a fair share of injury problems, could lead to some issues.

LeVert is a good player. However, I think he’s just that, at least for now. Would he really move the needle for the Sixers? He’d definitely help, but they’d still be far from serious contention if they did a deal headlined by his name. The Pacers have a lot of really solid talent outside of LeVert that they could offer too, such as Malcolm Brogdon, TJ Warren, and Justin Holiday, to name a few.

This has been your daily Ben Simmons report. We’ll keep you posted with additional rumors as they come up.