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After the Kyrie Irving trade irrevocably shook up the 2022-23 Brooklyn Nets, the team must make some bold moves at the NBA trade deadline. There are plenty of reasons this is the case, but the No. 1 reason is to keep Kevin Durant happy and believing he is on a team capable of contending for an NBA championship. This won’t be easy with a top 20 NBA player out the door. However, there is a Nets trade deadline move the team can make to keep KD believing, at least for the rest of the season, and it involves shipping Ben Simmons out of town.
A Nets trade deadline deal sends Ben Simmons to the Raptors for Pascal Siakam
The Nets now have a simple strategy after the Kyrie Irving trade: Addition by subtraction. Irving was a constant distraction off the court and as good as he was on it, the Nets decided to quickly acquiesce to his trade demand.
Ben Simmons is the other major problem on the Nets roster in 2023. The 2016 No. 1 overall draft is a complete mess on the court and off of it.
He is still an elite on-ball defender when he wants to be, but those moments of lock-down tenacity are seemingly fewer and further between these days. On the offensive side of the ball, Simmons gives his team absolutely nothing.
For the 2022-23 season, Simmons is averaging 7.2 points and shooting 43.9% from the free throw line. He’s also shooting a Blutarsky-like 0.00 percent from 3-point range, having missed the one 3-pointer he took this season.
Maybe after the Kyrie trade the Nets aren’t going anywhere this season. But keeping Simmons on the roster guarantees that. There is no way that the Nets do better than win one series as presently constituted (with Simmons mostly). He's simply not a winning playoff player after his infamous meltdown back in 2021.
The one ray of hope here is that there is a team that is interested in taking Simmons off the Nets' hands at the NBA trade deadline, with the right number of first-round picks attached.
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Rumors are that Nets general manager Sean Marks and Toronto Raptors GM Masai Ujiri have discussed a Nets trade deadline deal that would send Ben Simmons, along with 23-year-old center Nic Claxton (and several draft picks) to the Raptors for star forward Pascal Siakam.
Siakam is an excellent player, but at 28, he’s reached his ceiling and is making $35.4 million this year and $37.8 million in 2023-24. That’s a problem as the Raptors are currently 25-30 and in 11th place in the East. It is time for Totonot to tank for a top pick in the loaded 2023 NBA Draft.
The Raptors star is not the type of player you can build a team around. That said, he is definitely the type of player who would be an excellent No. 2 to say, Kevin Durant.
Siakam is a workhorse who has led the league in minutes per game the last two seasons (37.9, 37.5). He’s also a big-time scorer who can play down low or step out and hit a three from time to time to keep the opposing defense honest.
This season, Siakam is averaging 24.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 6.2 assists while shooting 51.2% from 2-point range and 31.5% from 3. He may not be the best at any one thing in the NBA, but he might be the most versatile player in the league. This is what makes him a perfect fit next to Durant.
Getting Claxton and picks allows the Raptors to start their next rebuild, this time around Scottie Barnes. And if Ujiri and Nick Nurse can perform a miracle and turn around Simmons — who is two years younger than Siakam — all the better.
This isn’t a franchise-altering trade like the one Ujiri made a few years ago for Kawhi Leonard, but it does let them hit the soft reset button and start building up around Barnes as quickly as possible.
For Brooklyn, this Nets trade deadline deal would be quite a coup. Chances are, the Kyrie, KD, and Ben Simmons squad wasn’t a real contender. However, a starting five with KD, Siakam, Cam Thomas (who is on an unbelievable heater right now), Doran Finney-Smith, and Spencer Dinwiddie could give some teams issues in the playoffs.
That is why it is worth it for the Nets. Sure, they could make this deal, and Durant could still demand a trade in the summers. But at that point, they would have another valuable asset in Pascal Siakam, who they could build with or deal for assets. Because whatever happens, Siakam has way more value at this point than Ben Simmons.
