Ben Simmons’ name popped up during trade conversations between the Nets and a Western Conference team recently, according to a report from SNY.
In the days before Brooklyn suffered an ugly loss to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, the Nets had been in “cursory talks” with a team in the West for a deal that would have brought a “veteran sharpshooter” to Brooklyn. The report stated that Simmons was brought up in those talks, but it is unclear how far things ever got in those conversations.
Brooklyn has been aggressively looking for perimeter shooting after starting the year 2-6.
Simmons has missed the past two games with left knee soreness, which Shams Charania of the Athletic had reported was due to swelling in the knee. It was said that the team and Simmons had been trying to manage it.
That comes amid a start to the year for Simmons that has been far from what he or the Nets had imagined. Simmons has struggled at times during the first few games of the season when he has been on the court, though he has shown flashes of what had made him a coveted target for Brooklyn.
The worry has been the high number of fouls and turnovers that have occurred by Simmons. He fouled out in two of the first three games of the year.
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Simmons has averaged 6.2 points per game, 7.3 assists and 6.5 rebounds his season. He’s been shooting 44.1% from the floor.
The Nets’ pursuit of improving the team is sure to be in overdrive after they made a significant move on Tuesday to fire head coach Steve Nash before the loss to the Chicago Bulls. Injuries to Simmons and Seth Curry have already begun to become an issue quickly this season and off the court drama had already compounded the deteriorating situation on the cour.
