The Philadelphia 76ers have lost seven consecutive games, are 12th in the Eastern Conference with a 20-36 record and have very little margin for error if they still stand a chance at making the playoffs,

NBA Insider Jake Fischer spoke on the Sixers and their interest in bringing in their former playmaker Ben Simmons after the dust settled from the trade deadline. Simmons agreed to a buyout with the Brooklyn Nets. The 28-year-old joined the Nets in 2022 in a deal where the Sixers acquired James Harden.

It wasn't just that the Mavericks traded away a 25-year-old superstar, a thing that pretty much never happens in the NBA. It was that they questioned his conditioning and fit with the team through leaks to reporters on his way out, then got quite defensive as the criticism continued.