Bold Update On Ben Simmons’ Brooklyn Nets Future

Bold Update On Ben Simmons’ Brooklyn Nets Future,There is a lot of fallout from the NBA blockbuster trades that the Brooklyn Nets made ahead of the deadline. They traded Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks and Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns, changing the trajectory of the franchise for years to come.

Bold Update On Ben Simmons’ Brooklyn Nets Future

There is a lot of fallout from the NBA blockbuster trades that the Brooklyn Nets made ahead of the deadline. They traded Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks and Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns, changing the trajectory of the franchise for years to come.

In those deals, the Nets received players that could be the foundation of their next era. Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson were acquired from the Suns while Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith were acquired from the Mavericks. All of them are solid players in their own right, but without a star, it is fair to say that the Nets are no longer title contenders.

Head coach Jacque Vaughn is going to have his hands full when it comes to roles and minutes. The four aforementioned players have been starters for the majority of their careers and the Nets only sent out two rotation players ahead of the deadline. Finding minutes for four new players will have its challenges.

One of the players who has been lost in the shuffle thus far is Ben Simmons. The Nets had some optimism that Simmons would return to his old form as a complementary piece alongside Irving and Durant, but without them in the fold, his role is up in the air.

He has played his fewest minutes in a single game since the Nets had their full complement of players. Vaughn noted that finding a role for him will take some time as Brooklyn now lacks the star power to draw attention away from him offensively and his struggles to score put the team in a bind.

Seemingly without a plan, the Nets are going to look to trade Simmons in the offseason. Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports offered an update on the situation brewing between Simmons and the franchise.

“What becomes of Simmons and the final two years and nearly $80 million remaining on his contract after this season is of course another dynamic to monitor in Brooklyn. The Nets are widely expected to gauge what trade market could materialize for Simmons after his disappointing campaign comes to a close. The three-time All-Star is still far from the form he exhibited during his best days in Philadelphia”

Some people believe Simmons may have the worst contract in the NBA. That is certainly a bold proclamation to make, but it could be true. Simmons is the 21st highest-paid player in the NBA this season but is barely hanging onto a rotation spot with the Nets.

His contract doesn’t get any easier to stomach, as Fischer noted that he is owed nearly $80 million for the next two seasons as well. Simmons is set to make more money than franchise cornerstones such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, Darius Garland and Jayson Tatum in the next few seasons.

The Nets can look into trading him, but that task is certainly easier said than done. It will likely take multiple assets being attached to him to move him. The Los Angeles Lakers struggled to find a home for Russell Westbrook but even with his current level of production, he offers more than Simmons has in multiple years.