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The first complete season of Ben Simmons con Brooklyn Nets has had a disappointing ending. The team announced the friday march 24 that the Australian has been diagnosed with a nerve impingement in his back. The Nets are still determining “the best form of long-term treatment”but the point guard is expected to stay out for the rest of the 2022-2023 season and focus on his recovery process.
Now that the franchise is past the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving era, it will have some tough decisions to make during this transition period. How does Simmons fit into the Nets’ future plans?
Or, perhaps the question should be rephrased: Does Simmons fit into those plans?
Ben Simmons’ poor performance this season
After being traded by the 76ers to the Nets in February 2022, Simmons never played that season due to a back injury. The point guard finally made his debut the following season with Brooklyn on Oct. 19, and unfortunately for the Nets, his poor performance was a harbinger of things to come.
Simmons averaged 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 26.3 minutes per game, all of which were career lows. The Australian shot 56.6% from the field but made just 5.6 attempts a night and fell as low as 43.9% from free throws.
The free practice issue was a real punishment for Rookie of the Year in 2018.
Ben Simmons passes up on a layup attempt against Luke Kornet ???? pic.twitter.com/PV3TO1TrfR
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 13, 2023
While there were some flashes of brilliance — he scored 22 points, on 11-for-13 shooting on Nov. 20 — Simmons never managed to be a consistent factor. Nets coach Jacque Vaughn recognized the challenges of building around such a limited player.
“It’s going to be something we have to work on.Vaughn said in February. “You just need to take a look at what the lineups might look like. If you put another big guy next to Ben, then you have to figure out what the space is around him. If you put a playmaker next to him you have to figure out how Ben will do it without the ball. And if you play in small formats you’re going to have to face how you’re going to protect the rebound.”
“So, the challenges are ahead of us”, continuous. “We’ll take them head on. We’ll figure it out. We have the people to do it.”
Combine his play with his health problems, and this season was a complete disaster for Simmons.
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Ben Simmons’ contract with the Brooklyn Nets
There is some positive news for Ben Simmons. He will still be paid as an All-Star even if he never becomes one again.
The Australian signed a contract extension for five years and 170 million dollars with the Sixers in 2019. That agreement extends through the 2024-2025 season, although there is no player option in that last year.
| Season | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary | 35.4M | 37.9M | 40,3m | free agent |
If the Nets could negotiate a buyout at this point, they’d likely cancel the Simmons experiment. However, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the Australian would want to have that conversation. And it is that he has almost 80 million of his contract left.
The only thing that further complicates things is the recent break between Simmons and Klutch Sports, the agency that had represented him since 2016. The player and the company broke their relationship due to the fact that the Australian “I needed a fresh start”according to Ramona Shelburne de ESPN.
Jon Krawczynski de The Athletic reported that Simmons is expected to hire Bernie Lee, who represents Jimmy Butler, as his next agent.
Will the Nets land a trade for Ben Simmons?
Hope that Brooklyn Nets “evaluate what transfer value Simmons could have” after the season, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, but shipping him elsewhere would be no easy task.
Before the market closes, Bobby Marks de ESPN pointed out that the former 76ers “had no value in the league”. There isn’t a single GM who should be willing to give up assets to acquire Simmons. Not only would he create problems on the court, but he would also add a huge salary to the team’s payroll.
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And from the Nets’ perspective, it doesn’t make sense to add draft picks to get rid of Ben. After recovering some assets in the outings of Durant and Irving they can’t afford to throw those away picks when they could be used to speed up a rebuild.
A breach of contract may be the best option for both parties, but it does not seem to be the most realistic. For now, Simmons and the Nets are stuck with each other.
The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the NBA or its organizations.
