Getty Kevin Durant #7 and Ben Simmons #10 of the Brooklyn Nets.
This season has been a major disappointment for Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons. Simmons has never been a volume scorer, as his career average of 14.7 points per game will show, but this season he is scoring less than half of that, averaging just 6.9 points and more than two turnovers per game. As the Nets transition out of the superstar era, Simmons could be the next player on the trading block.
One NBA executive told Heavy’s Sean Deveney that the San Antonio Spurs have “an interest” in being a part of a blockbuster deal for Simmons that would ultimately land star point guard Damian Lillard on the Nets.
“I have heard that the Spurs have an interest in Simmons, and they could be a third team in a deal, but you would have to give them picks to get that done, and that won’t be easy,” the executive said to Deveney. “But the Spurs could be a third team to make a Simmons- [Damian] Lillard deal work.”
Sean Marks Sounds off on Kevin Durant Trade
The Nets’ decision to trade Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant at this year’s trade deadline is still an equation many are trying to figure out. Especially with the Nets currently staring down the barrel of an 0-3 deficit, something that no team in NBA history has been able to overcome.
But according to Nets general manager Sean Marks, when Kyrie demanded a trade once it was clear the Nets were not going to offer him a long-term extension, the Nets’ front office knew that Durant skipping town was inevitable and it was time for Brooklyn to look towards the future.
“We knew the end of an era was upon us. When Kyrie had already moved, the discussions with Phoenix heated up and it became real, like ‘All right, well, there’s a shift happening here, right? Are we resetting, retooling, or rebuilding? We were able to come to terms with that knowing that the package we were getting back in return was something that has a clear pathway,” Marks told ESPN.
“We’ve never sort of had a group of young guys before that were under contract, proven, healthy and you can see a pathway of, ‘Hey, I can see what this may look like in two, three years from now.’ … Not just Mikal but all of them, where do they all take their games to? Who’s the next person that takes that leap?”
Nets Sharpshooter Praises Mikal Bridges
As painful as it must have been for Nets fans to see both Durant and Irving depart at the trade deadline, they did get one heck of a consolation prize in Mikal Bridges. Bridges carried the Nets into the postseason. Full stop. He averaged 26.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game.
Those numbers have stayed intact during the playoffs, as the Nets star is averaging 25.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game this postseason. Nets sharpshooter Joe Harris says that despite Bridges’ star growing bigger by the day, he is one of the humblest players in the league.
“[He is] Obviously an incredible player, but just the fact that he’s a down-to-earth, humble, engaging guy,” Harris told ESPN.
“The first time he comes into the facility, he’s just going up, introducing himself to everybody. Obviously, it’s the small stuff that you would think that everybody does, but it sometimes is not the reality.”