ESPN insider Bobby Marks made a recent radio appearance and explained exactly how much trade value Ben Simmons has right now.
Before the Nets’ loss to the Clippers on Monday night, Bobby Marks’ was able to tell the masses how much trade value Ben Simmons has in any deal. Appearing on Kay, Jay, and Max; the former GM said that Simmons has virtually no value around the league.
While not sounding too harsh on Simmons, this makes a lot of sense. Simmons has struggled to stay on the court due to injuries and foul trouble. Additionally, the player hasn’t been averaging the same stats since his holdout/back injury last season. Finally, his contract is huge long-term as it was max-money when the contract was signed.
Simmons has around $35 million left for this season, $37 million due the following year, and $40 million due in the last year of his deal. Coupled with all of the questions about Simmons, it makes a trade for the Nets very hard to do. If Simmons was playing like he was at the beginning of his career, then you could probably use him in a deal for a running mate for Kevin Durant.
Who would be interested in trading for Ben Simmons?
Unfortunately, Simmons has struggled since then and it seems a lot of his value has gone down. After the Kyrie Irving trade, the Nets are in a tough spot. Brooklyn will be a team operating over the cap next offseason and can improve this team through a trade. As already illustrated, the Nets really have one more big chance at landing a running mate for KD post-Irving trade.
Durant will probably not be traded between now and the deadline, as Marks said in his report, a Kevin Durant trade happens over the summer not when the deadline is days away. Whether it be fair or unfair (to him), Durant is simply under contract to this team for the foreseeable future. Brooklyn has one more chance at keeping Durant and Simmons having zero trade value is a reason why.
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