Joe Lacob definitely does not sound like a man who wants Ben Simmons on his team.
The Golden State Warriors owner Lacob spoke Tuesday to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. Lacob took some time to address the trade rumors linking the Philadelphia 76ers star Simmons to the Warriors and made clear that it likely will not be happening any time soon.
“In some ways, it doesn’t really fit what we’re doing,” said Lacob. “He makes a lot of money. And, can he finish games? I don’t know.”
“He’s very talented,” Lacob continued about Simmons. “The problem is: We have Draymond [Green]. Draymond and him are very similar in the sense that neither one really shoots and they do a lot of the playmaking. That’s one issue. The salary structure is another.”
To avoid a tampering violation, Lacob did not mention Simmons by name in the interview, only referring to the “Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Philadelphia.”
While Lacob’s comments sounded pretty harsh, he brings up several good points. Simmons is still owed nearly $150 million over the next four years, which may already be a non-starter for the capped-out Warriors. The 25-year-old can also be played off the floor at times with his shoddy free-throw shooting and problematic refusal to take jumpers. When you add that to Simmons’ redundancy with Green as well as the possessions that he would take away from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Lacob’s analysis sounds pretty spot-on.
We know that Simmons would like to be traded to the West Coast and that the Warriors were previously mentioned as a team with interest. Now that Lacob has given his take on the matter though, it is probably safe to rule the Warriors out of the Simmons sweepstakes.
