Much has been made between Thursday night's highly-anticipated clash between the Brooklyn Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers. Apart from the fact that basketball fans will be treated to an intense matchup between two of the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference this season, the underlying narrative is that of the Ben Simmons-James Harden blockbuster trade between these two teams not too long ago.

With the Sixers hosting the Nets, this will be the first time Simmons will return to his former stomping ground. It's no secret that Philly fans have no love for their former star point guard and he's expected to receive a not-so-warm welcome in the Sixers' Wells Fargo Center.

If you ask Nets superstar Kevin Durant, however, he firmly believes that Simmons should be able to take all this in stride. According to KD, this is just all part of the business:

“That's the profession we're in,” Durant said (h/t Nick Friedell of ESPN). “We're out making 40 million dollars a year, you can take that [criticism] for 48 [minutes of a game], for a couple hours. I'm sure Ben has that approach.”

KD himself has been on the receiving end of some occasional jeering from the fans. A few years ago, Durant was Public Enemy No. 1 after he unceremoniously left the Oklahoma City Thunder to join Stephen Curry and Co. with the Golden State Warriors. Not too many people liked that move from KD and they made sure to let him know as often as they could. Durant came out of that fine, though.

KD probably had some words of advice for Simmons as he prepares for a ferocious welcome from the Philly home crowd. Unfortunately, Ben still won't be able to suit up for this one so Sixers fans will just need to boo him while he sits comfortably on the bench.

Setting all the noise aside, however, we should all be in store for what is expected to be a high-octane matchup between two teams that both have championship aspirations this season. For all we know, this could be a preview of this year's Eastern Conference Finals.