Bill Simmons had Ryen Russillo on his Sunday podcast for the final time until the next NBA season, and Simmons workshopped his trade value column with Russillo. Simmons lists 64 players in his most recent trade column and breaks them into 12 groups.
Karl-Anthony Towns is in Group F, which he calls “If you tell Woj, I’ll deny it to the death…but I’m listening.” Jaden McDaniels is an honorable mention.
Predictably, Anthony Edwards is Simmons’ highest-ranked player. He didn’t make Group A, players he considers “completely and utterly untouchable.” But he put him ahead of Kevin Durant, who’s in Group C, “We’re not trading him, (but make us an offer).”
“The next group is the Untouchables,” said Simmons, introducing the next group.” This is Group B, from 9-5. Anthony Edwards, Evan Mobley, who I have bolded, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, and Ja Morant. There’s some great arguments on this one.
“Am I too high on Evan Mobley is my first question? I have him eighth.”
“Um, I’ll just give you my answer now,” Russillo said, laughing. “I would trade everybody except for Embiid for Anthony Edwards in this group.”
“Wow,” Simmons said, genuinely surprised.
“Including Ja,” added Russillo.
“Woah,” expressed Simmons, laughing.
“I don’t give a shit,” responded Russillo.
“Even Evan Mobley?” asked Simmons.
“Yeah,” Russillo said emphatically.
“Really?” asked Simmons.
“The best version of Anthony Edwards is what you want on your basketball team,” Russillo exclaimed.
“So as much as I love Mobley, we all love Mobley – we love him, the guy doesn’t make any mistakes, he’s awesome – which NBA team in this era is … are they running stuff through him?
“Like I need somebody with the ball who can go figure it out and do it for me, and that’s what the game is. With Edwards’ size –”
“And he’s not even 21 years old yet,” said Simmons, cutting Russillo off.
“And his personality,” added Russillo.
“His personality is incredible,” Simmons agreed. “He might – him and Ja might have the highest approval ratings of anyone other than Steph.”
“Oh, I think his is ahead of Ja’s,” offered Russillo. “Because I think Ja, after the Warriors’ series, when we started doing a little codebreaking, people were kinda like, ‘What’s going on with Ja?’
And, again, Ja’s one of my favorite players to watch, I think he’s so authentic. I think he represents the city. It’s awesome.
I still think of that game, what was it, Game 2, where he had 47 against Golden State? That’s crazy.
Anthony Edwards has never done anything like that. However, body-type projection here, I always worried about how Ja lands like five or six times a game.
“I really worry about the injury piece with Ja, too,” said Simmons. “The reason I put him five is just what he means to Memphis, and how fucking popular he is.
“I mean, he’s the most, according to all their digital media, their social, everything, Ja is the most popular player. I think that has to matter.”
“Honestly, you should put Ja in the top tier, then,” Russillo offered. “Because if that’s what we’re talking about, importance to the city, then it’s hard to argue.”
“I’ve thought about that,” admitted Simmons. “This is trade value.
“So, alright, I’ll flip Mobley and Edwards, because you sold me on that.”
“They offer Edwards for Tatum, you say what?” Russillo asked, laughing.
“I plead the fifth,” said Simmons, laughing. “I’m not giving my answer. I love Jayson Tatum.”
“I think Jayson Tatum has ‘I’m fucking outta here’ written all over him one day,” Russillo avers.
“C’mon,” Simmons pleaded.
“Yeah, just a guess,” said Russillo. “I don’t know.”
“I do love Anthony Edwards,” admitted Simmons.
Simmons has been enamored with Edwards ever since the playoffs. He thinks Jimmy Kimmel should have him on his show, and he declared this summer to be the “Summer of Ant.” Still, he’s a Boston Celtics fan and placed Tatum over Edwards.
Russillo seemed higher on Edwards than Simmons, but both analysts are fond of Minnesota’s emerging forward. Would Simmons be higher on him if he weren’t from Boston? It’s hard to know. But either way, both guys feel like the Timberwolves have something special with Edwards.
