“Ben Simmons had an emotional phone call with Kevin Durant after the Sixers traded him”: The former ROTY is ecstatic to be in Brooklyn

The Ben Simmons – James Harden saga finally comes to a close, with each of them now on teams that bring the best out of their skill sets.

Ben Simmons has not played a single game for the 76ers since that ill-fated loss in the conference semi-finals. Since that day, he has been on a mission to make it out of Philadelphia. He was ready to take all the fines that were being levied against him, provided it moved him closer to an exit.

James Harden did not outwardly show any signs of discomfort, but anyone’s guess is as good as any. A load of carrying a team while Kevin Durant was out injured was maybe too much for him. Kyrie wasn’t helping out any way either, which meant the whole organization relied on one guy to bring in the wins.

KD was playing at an MVP level before his injury, but since he hasn’t played, the Nets have not won very much. In fact, even after giving us glimpses of his previous MVP caliber seasons, Harden couldn’t improve the situation in Brooklyn.

Moving to Philly lets the beard play his natural game, with the workload now being shared with Joel “The Troel” Embiid. He can go back to his Houston Rockets days, and Ben can go to being a playmaker on a team that is rife with people that can score.

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Ben Simmons ended up in a team that doesn’t need him to shoot as often

Ben Simmons is on a team right now that doesn’t need him to be on his best performance night in night out. He has Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to take care of the shooting. Simmons is still an all-round great player, it’s just that he is as scared of shooting as Jerry is afraid of Tom. The Brooklyn Nets need a playmaker with elite defending, and they got exactly that. Ben plays at the point, but he can very easily switch between all positions to defend.

While in Philadelphia, the onus was on him to share the workload equally with Joel Embiid to propel the team to victories. The Philly fans expected their star to play like a modern PG, but for some reason, he decided to stick to playing without a shoot button. He was so scared of scoring, that even Trae young who is considerably shorter than him was able to deter him from making an open layup.

The Nets fans are however happy to see Ben play in their uniform. For some reason or the other, their big three did not work together. They were amazing on the court, but off-court they were as different as chalk and cheese. Durant just wanted to hoop, Kyrie has a different outlook on life, and James Harden just wanted to enjoy his nightclub activities. Maybe this is why the Nets decided to move Harden instead of Irving, and the Nets are better for it now.

Also Read: “James Harden continued his late-night social habits”: ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reveals insights about the former Nets star’s attitude as the trade deadline approached