When the Brooklyn Nets traded for Ben Simmons last season, some thought he could be the missing piece they had lacked.
While he has shown flashes of good play to start this season, he has, by and large, been a disappointment so far.
On Thursday, the Nets lost to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in overtime, and Simmons had a particularly embarrassing moment in which he threw up an airball from point-blank range.
BEN SIMMONS IS BACK pic.twitter.com/NracPy2p0M
— NBA Slime (@TerryFranconia) October 28, 2022
The Nets are 1-4, and the buzzards are starting to circle over the New York City area once again.
The Same Issues For Simmons
In these first five games, Simmons is averaging just 5.6 points per game on an anemic 44.4 percent shooting accuracy.
The bone of contention for him has been his inability to hit shots outside of the paint and his unwillingness to even take such shots, and nothing has changed in that regard.
Simmons has built a reputation as an elite defender, but even that aspect of his game is suffering greatly.
He has fouled out of two games already, and Brooklyn has the worst defensive rating in the whole league while allowing 121.6 points per game, including at least 129 points in three of its five contests.
Even worse, Simmons’ personal defensive rating is terrible.
.@ShannonSharpe sounds off on Ben Simmons following his 6th foul against Ja Morant:
"You can’t win a championship with Ben Simmons. Of 126 qualified players, Ben has the 2nd-worst defensive rating in the NBA, 2nd to Kevin Durant. In 3 games, Ben has 17 points and 14 fouls." pic.twitter.com/aaPzNJoru8
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) October 25, 2022
During the offseason, Kevin Durant asked to be traded, while the Nets were reportedly entertaining trade offers for Kyrie Irving from the Los Angeles Lakers.
If they don’t turn things around soon, could Durant and/or Irving be headed out of Brooklyn sometime in the coming months?
Could Simmons end up quitting on the Nets, just like he quit on the Philadelphia 76ers in 2021?
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