There has been a lot of speculation about what the Brooklyn Nets could do with Ben Simmons during the 2024 NBA offseason. For the second consecutive season, they didn’t receive much from the former No. 1 overall pick on the court.
Simmons’ season ended a few weeks ago as he is dealing with yet another back injury. His back limited him to only 15 games, as he averaged 6.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game.
Former head coach Jacque Vaughn spent the entire offseason building the team’s game plan offensively around Simmons. It was something that rubbed players on the team the wrong way and played a part in him being fired during the season.
Sadly, this has been the norm for Simmons in his tenure with the Nets and the last few years of his NBA career. He has played in only 57 games over the last two seasons after missing the entire 2021-22 season because of a holdout, back injury and mental health issues.
Many people would like to see the Nets cut bait and move on as things haven’t panned out with Simmons. However, that isn’t the course of action they are planning to take. According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, via NBACentral, Brooklyn has no intentions of throwing the towel in on Simmons.
It makes sense for the Nets to see if they can coax any value out of Simmons. Even if he cannot produce on the floor, he could be a huge trade asset for the team because of his contract. The 2024-25 season is the final one on Simmons’ deal, so he could hold value as an expiring contract.
There are plenty of teams around the NBA who would take on that money to get off of long-term money that is on their books. The Nets could use this as a way to add some more assets or use Simmons’ contract as a way to match salaries in a blockbuster deal.
Waiving Simmons would make little sense for the Nets as there is still a use for him. Getting healthy would be ideal, but even if he cannot get on the court, Brooklyn can still squeeze some value out of what has been a disastrous tenure with the franchise.
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