Yesterday, Stephen A. Smith made some bold claims about the Philadelphia 76ers situation. He essentially said that Kyrie Irving for Ben Simmons is a trade that had been struck down by the likes of Kevin Durant. This came just a week after the suggestions that Irving would retire from basketball if the Nets were to trade him. Having said that, it had many fans speculating about what could have been had the trade actually gone down.
As blogs and publications picked up on Smith's claims, the idea that the 76ers and the Nets had a trade in place, started to percolate. Some felt like Smith was making up the whole thing, while others just couldn't fathom the idea that the Nets would want to part ways with a talent like Kyrie.
With the reports getting out of control, Smith decided to take to Twitter, where he offered some clarity on his words from the other day. As he explains, he never actually said a trade was in place, however, he did say that KD was not down for any deals that could come down the pipeline.
"Here we go with the lies again. I never said any trade offers were made regarding Kyrie & @BrooklynNets. What I said is, they would do a deal to swap Kyrie for Ben Simmons in a heartbeat, but @KDTrey5 ain’t having it. He loves his brother Kyrie. He won’t have that!" Smith wrote.
Regardless of what Smith said, it remains clear that Simmons wants out of Philadelphia. However, Simmons has all of the leverage right now, which means his trade value is not where the Sixers would like it to be. Needless to say, these next few weeks prior to the season are going to be interesting.
