Tag: Ben Simmons

Report: Nets have no plans to “dump” or waive Ben Simmons

Per NetsDaily, the Brooklyn Nets have no plans to use guard Ben Simmons as a salary dump or to waive him heading into the 2024-25 season.

The Brooklyn Nets are coming off a disappointing 2023-24 season in which the organization failed its own mission of getting back to the playoffs. While there are plenty of reasons why Brooklyn did not make it to the playoffs, one of the main reasons was not having their highest-paid player available for most of the season.

Nets guard Ben Simmons, who was paid almost $38 million last season (most on the team), played in just 15 games due to two separate nerve impingements in his back. Per a recent article by NetsDaily, “there’s currently no plan to dump him, to waive and stretch him to save cap space, etc” based on what league insiders shared with the outlet.

This line of thinking tracks with what Brian Lewis of the New York Post reported in April that Brooklyn “appears” to be moving forward with Simmons as a member of the team. Simmons, 27, is due to earn $40.3 million next season and based on many reports, it looks like the Nets will be hoping one last time that Simmons can give more to the team than what he has done thus far.

As Keith Smith of Spotrac pointed out in his recent piece about Brooklyn’s financial outlook for 2024, Simmons has multiple ways of providing value to the Nets outside of his availability on the court. At the very least, if Simmons is not able to play many games in the 2024-25 season, he will clear $40 million in cap space for Brooklyn heading into the 2025 offseason.

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Basketball players at the Met Gala through the years: Dwyane Wade, Angel Reese, more

The Met Gala in Manhattan is regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious and glamorous fashion events. NBA and WNBA players and their partners have made their presence felt throughout the years showing their passion for fashion: Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, Carmelo and LaLa Anthony, Stephen and Ayesha Curry, Brittney and Cherelle Griner, Angel Reese, Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons…

Check out some of the best pics at the Met Gala below.

Ben Simmons and his Flavor Flav clock bag at the 2024 Met Gala became an instant meme

The clock bag turned Ben Simmons into a supervillain in memes.

Hey, I think Ben Simmons’ fit for the 2024 Met Gala was kind of cool! It had a Sherlock Holmes and Flava Flav feel to it!

Why Flav? You’ve got to look at his bag that was a clock. But of course it didn’t matter that he was one of the sharply dressed athletes at the annual event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, because he got razzed and turned into a meme on X (formerly Twitter), which isn’t a huge surprise.

Here’s a roundup of the jokes made about him after he walked the red carpet on Monday:

Nets’ Ben Simmons shows out at the 2024 Met Gala

Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons is recovering from a nerve impingement in his back, but he made quite the appearance at the 2024 Met Gala.

The Brooklyn Nets are in the middle of an important offseason as they look to change the team around enough to make it back to the playoffs next season. However, even though Brooklyn is off for this part of the summer, one of their players is still on their “A” game.

For those unaware, the 2024 Met Gala was held on Monday and the event is a chance for celebrities to show their best fit pertaining to the theme for that year. One of those celebrities who made quite an appearance at the Gala was none other than Nets guard Ben Simmons.

While Simmons is known for his play on the basketball career, it is clear to anyone who has seen him out of a basketball uniform that he is pretty fashionable as well. Some fans have criticized Simmons because they have seen Simmons less often in a uniform and more often in clothes fit for a night out on the town due to how many injuries he has dealt with over the past few season.

Simmons is currently recovering from a nerve impingement in his lower left back that limited him to just 15 games played in the 2023-24 season, but it’s good to see him out and about during his recovery. The hope is that Simmons can show more of his flashy, spectacular game on the court to accompany how well he dresses off it.

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How can the Nets move forward with Ben Simmons this offseason?

Keith Smith of Spotrac recently broke down the options that the Brooklyn Nets have with Ben Simmons’ expiring $40.3 million contract.

The Brooklyn Nets have an important summer ahead of them as they have to find a way to get back to the playoffs after missing the postseason this year. One of the matters that Brooklyn has to address at some point is what they’re going to do with guard Ben Simmons.

Simmons, 27, is heading into the last season of the five-year, $177 million extension that he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019. While the Nets aren’t necessarily in the position of needing to make one move to put them into championship contention since they are far from that, Simmons hasn’t been giving the team what was been expected of him.

Injuries, mostly with his back, have limited Simmons to 57 games played in his 2.5 seasons in Brooklyn and as such, some fans are tired of seeing Simmons taking up such a large amount of cap space while being unable to play for an extended period of time. The good thing for those fans is, the Nets have a few options of what they can do with Simmons given that he’s in the last year of his current deal.

For starters, it should be noted that based on previous reports, the expectation is for Simmons to be on the Nets’ roster next season with the hope that he can play more than he did this past season (15 games). Barring any significant trades, Simmons should be competing with Dennis Schroder for the starting point guard role.

Keith Smith of Spotrac pointed out in his article on Brooklyn’s offseason that the franchise could use Simmons’ contract as a way to match salaries in the pursuit of a star-level player, using the $40.3 million left on his deal to acquire two or three players for depth purposes, or let his contract run out so that they have that money freed up on their cap space for the 2025 offseason.

Essentially, there are four ways that the Nets can utilize Simmons this offseason/next season so the power is in their court right now. If Simmons can play somewhat close to his All-Star days, Brooklyn could have more options with Simmons than they do at this moment.

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NBA fans made Ben Simmons jokes when Joel Embiid passed up a crucial wide-open jumper

Somewhere, Ben Simmons was probably laughing.

In a hard-fought series against the New York Knicks, it feels like every mistake has cost the Philadelphia 76ers dearly. What happened at the end of Philadelphia’s loss on Sunday to give the Knicks a 3-1 series lead looked especially brutal.

With the 76ers trying to mount a late comeback, Joel Embiid found himself wide-open for a short mid-range jumper that would’ve made it a one-score game. Instead, he pump-faked, drove into the teeth of the Knicks’ defense for the lay-up, and missed altogether. It seemed eerily reminiscent of ex-76er Ben Simmons passing up an easy dunk in a Game 7 loss against the Atlanta Hawks a few years ago.

Check it out via a video from a Twitter user below:

Oof. That’s gotta sting for the 76ers, particularly now that they face a 3-1 series deficit and have no margin for error.

To be fair to Embiid, he was probably the only reason this was even a close game in the fourth quarter. The superstar stuffed the stat sheet with 27 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, three steals, and two blocks. This happened while All-Star Tyrese Maxey teammate shot just 8-of-21 from the field, and other key contributors like Tobias Harris scored only 10 points.

However, Embiid is the 76ers’ engine. He still scored a single point in the fourth quarter after playing the entire second half of a game for the first time in his career. (Never mind that the Knicks won the fourth-quarter rebounding battle far and away without a true center on the floor.) 76ers head coach Nick Nurse defended the decision because Philadelphia really needed this win, but it’s hard not to think that getting some rest would’ve helped Embiid, especially with his clutch time decision-making.

Embiid’s brutal decision at the very end probably didn’t lose the 76ers this game by itself, but the optics will be impossible to escape. It’s only natural it reminded NBA fans of Simmons’ infamous blunder.

Nets’ Sean Marks gives update on Ben Simmons’ recovery

After Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez’s press conference on Wednesday, general manager Sean Marks gave an update on Ben Simmons.

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets are moving into a new era of the franchise as they have hired Jordi Fernandez to be the team’s head coach moving forward. Fernandez let his personality shine through during his introductory press conference on Wednesday while general manager Sean Marks had to answer some familiar, tough questions.

“Ben’s down in Miami, rehabbing now from surgery,” Marks said about Ben Simmons after Wednesday’s press conference to introduce Fernandez to the media. The Nets announced on Mar. 14 that Simmons “underwent a successful microscopic partial discectomy” to address the nerve impingement in his back that plagued most of his 2023-24 season.

“All signs point towards him being available for the start of next season,” Marks said of Simmons, which tracks with what the team said back in March in its statement about Simmons’ recovery. “With Ben, it’s very unfortunate. We looked like we were a completely different team when Ben was healthy out there. So, it’s paramount that we get him back and we get him healthy.”

Simmons, 27, played just 15 games this season as he dealt with a nerve impingement in his back that forced most of his missed games and also limited his effectiveness on the court. Not only has Simmons played just 57 games in the past three seasons, but he has also collected just over $106 million in that time span.

To be fair, when Simmons signed his current five-year, $177 million contract in July 2019, he was coming off a 2018-19 season that saw him make his first All-Star appearance after averaging 16.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per game for the Philadelphia 76ers.

However, it’s safe to say that with Simmons scheduled to earn $40.3 million next season, the Nets need him to be more available and get somewhat close to how he played prior to coming to Brooklyn. “I think Ben wants it just as much, if not more than anybody else. But, time will, time will tell on him and how he progresses through summer. There’s no reason to think he won’t be though,” Marks said.

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Tyrese Maxey reacts to winning MIP, gives credit to Ben Simmons, James Harden

Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey reacts to winning the MIP award and gives credit to Ben Simmons, James Harden, and others.

CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers put the ball in the hands of Tyrese Maxey in the 2023-24 season amid the James Harden saga and the young guard didn’t blink. In his fourth season in the league, he averaged 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 45% from the floor and 37.3% from deep.

He was named an All-Star for the first time in his career and his continued improvement allowed him to be named the Most Improved Player for the 2023-24 season.

For a guy whose motto is “get 1% better every day,” there was no better player to give the award to.

“It means a lot to me just because it’s something that I preach,” he said about winning the award. “Something that I live by and it’s not fake or something I started last year. I’ve been saying that for a very long time. My pop’s been on me about it. He always said proper preparation prevents poor performance so for me, it does really mean a lot.”

The 21st pick of the 2020 NBA draft, Maxey has been an absolute steal for Philadelphia. He has taken leaps and bounds throughout his career, and his rise to stardom in the league has been fascinating and impressive.

“It’s just a testament to the work,” he added. “I appreciate everybody who’s helped me along this way. Trainers, family members, people who actually believed in me, and everybody keeps saying when I got drafted I said I’d work extremely hard and I’ll make sure it’s not a regret. I really meant those things. I wanna keep building and keep getting better every single day.”

It also helps Maxey has had teammates he could learn from: Ben Simmons, James Harden, Kyle Lowry and others have all played a part in his development. Simmons and Harden receive ire from the city of Philadelphia, but both players received credit from Maxey.

“It’s helped a lot,” Maxey said of his teammates. “I’ve learned from a lot of people. Honestly, I go down a list. Ben was here, George Hill was here, guys like Danny Green was involved, but he was a leader. He was here who helped me a lot. I talked about him last night just about recovery and things like that. JH comes in, he helps me big time. Kyle Lowry, Pat Bev, those guys.”

Simmons has given love to Maxey in the past and Harden has as well. Harden, especially, has a special place in Maxey’s development and he made sure to give him another shoutout.

“What they all did here, they never, like, stepped on my toes,” Maxey finished. “They never hated. They always tried to build me up and I just really appreciate them for that. Especially, like, James man. He never wanted to step on my toes. He always wanted me to be aggressive and shoutout to him. I appreciate him.”

Maxey and the Sixers will now look to get on the board in the playoffs when they host the New York Knicks in Game 3 of the first round on Thursday.

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Nets’ Ben Simmons gets mocked by NBA HOFer Shaquille O’Neal

Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons was recently mocked by NBA Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neale in a recent episode of “The Big Podcast.”

Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons is currently out for the rest of this season due to the nerve impingement in his left lower back not getting better with treatment. He recently had surgery to address his back issue and as such, Simmons is still looking for answers to his injury question.

In the meantime, there are some in the media who look at Simmons’ recent bout of injuries as something of a money grab as opposed to a player struggling to stay healthy. In a episode of “The Big Podcast” that was published recently, NBA Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal said that he would pay to watch Simmons play basketball, but not for the reasons that most people would watch a player.

O’Neal said that he would pay to watch Simmons on the basketball court because he wants to learn “how you can make $80 million and play 55 games.” O’Neal was referring to how Simmons has played in 57 games over the past three seasons despite being paid $33 million, $35 million, and $37 million over that time span.

Simmons, 27, signed a five-year, $177 million extension in July 2019 while he was still a member of the Philadelphia 76ers and was coming off his first All-Star appearance. Since signing that extension, Simmons made All-Defensive first team twice, two All-Star appearances, and made All-NBA third team once.

However, things began to go downhill for Simmons after the 2018-19 season as he played in 57 of 73 games in the 2019-20 campaign and in 58 of 72 games in the 2020-21 season before missing the entire 2021-22 campaign due to a combination of a holdout and a back injury that required surgery.

What makes Simmons such a polarizing player is the fact that he was considered to be one of the NBA’s great, young players as he was being compared to the great LeBron James at one point in his career. However, Simmons has dealt with a multitude of injuries since then that have prevented him from seeing the floor, let alone getting back to his prior All-Star form.

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Reacting to wild trade proposal would see Bulls land Ben Simmons

This potential trade would see Ben Simmons join the Chicago Bulls.

As the Chicago Bulls inevitably look to trade Zach LaVine this summer, they will have to consider a bunch of different options. Reports indicated that the Bulls were looking to move LaVine during the season, but as soon as he underwent season-ending foot surgery, those talks were put to bed. Now, the focus will be on this summer.

Though his massive contract and lack of quality defensive abilities will hurt his value, there are a bunch of teams around the league who could use LaVine’s shot creation and scoring. One potential destination could be the Brooklyn Nets, who could use some more offense in their lineup.

Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report suggested a deal that would see Ben Simmons head to Chicago, and the Bulls Digest YouTube channel broke it down.

Simmons has been completely unable to stay on the court, but perhaps the Bulls could get back some draft capital in a deal involving him and LaVine.

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