Mock trade has Nets trading Ben Simmons for Doug McDermott
The Brooklyn Nets are one of a good amount of teams in the NBA that will have important decisions to make once this season is over. Even though the team already has a bright future with players like Mikal Bridges, Nic Claxton, and Cam Johnson along with a significant amount of draft capital to use for additional moves.
Brooklyn has had to change the direction of its franchise in a short amount of time because of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant wanting out. Once those two were traded away to the Dallas Maverick and Phoenix Suns, respectively, the Nets had to change their mindset from a contending team to a rebuilding team in a sense.
While this new roster of players hasn’t exactly been the smoothest combination because of the lack of chemistry (9-13 record in the past 22 games when the new roster is set), it’s clear that the Nets have some talented players. With that being said, there is one player that the team has to figure out his fit on the roster and that is Ben Simmons. Bleacher Report has one way to addressing it:
The mock trade
San Antonio Spurs Receive: G/F Ben Simmons, 2023 first-round pick (unprotected via Phoenix Suns)
Brooklyn Nets Receive: F Doug McDermott
Should the Nets do this trade?
Yes. The Ben Simmons experiment has been a failure as he either can’t stay healthy or hasn’t been productive when healthy enough to play. While Brooklyn traded for Simmons because James Harden wanted out, it seems that the Philadelphia 76ers won that trade even if Harden goes back to the Houston Rockets. Also, Simmons is owed almost $38 million next season and $40 million for the season after that. It just seems that the Nets as presently constructed do not need Simmons on the floor.
What B/R thinks of the trade
“The brief Ben Simmons era in Brooklyn has been nothing short of a disaster, as the 26-year-old managed just 42 total games this season before being shut down for good because of a nerve issue in his back.
His 6.9 points per game represented a significant drop from his previous career low (14.3), while Simmons still showed no interest in expanding his game to the three-point line. His free-throw attempts also plummeted, with Simmons getting to the line just 1.4 times a game, down from the 4.9 per-night mark for his career.
With two years and just over $78 million remaining on his contract, the Nets aren’t going to find a trade market for Simmons, and will need to part with draft capital just to move him.”
