Ben Simmons’ latest Instagram activity post Kevin Durant’s trade request gives Nets a $177 million scare

Akash Murty | 03/07/2022
Instagram activity of Ben Simmons with $35 million contract, sends Brooklyn Nets further down after Kevin Durant’s trade request

It’s never too early for a Ben Simmons controversy, is it? The Brooklyn Nets’ $35,448,672 employee is at it again.

After almost a season worth of wait sitting on the sidelines, citing mental health issues, Simmons saw all his wishes come true when James Harden and his scenario of wanting out of their respective clubs matched up and led to their midseason trades.

Even after the trade that landed him in a situation to have a go at the NBA championship alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, he failed to be game ready for two months and then the playoffs saw him lose some more respect among fans and experts.

The Nets ended up getting swept in the first round at the hands of the Boston Celtics, which would be Durant’s 1st Playoffs exit in the first round after 2010. That led to an offseason that no one in the Brooklyn camp would have considered seeing this early.

Also read: “The Lakers vomited all over themselves publicly and repeatedly”: Nuggets analyst Ryan Blackburn calls Kyrie Irving an All-Star talent albeit psychotic

 

Ben Simmons deactivates his Instagram account. Does that mean another trouble for Brooklyn?

It hasn’t been a month since the NBA Finals concluded, which should have had the Nets as the champions according to early season odds but had Golden State Warriors defeat the Boston Celtics 4-2 for their 4th chip in 8 years.

Meanwhile, the Nets didn’t just lose on a championship, they are on the verge of losing Harden, KD, and Kyrie in the space of five months, failing to achieve any significant success despite having the big-3 with the best offence of all-time for two years.

The 6’11 point guard’s presence in the 2022 Playoffs would indeed have made the Nets much better than they were, even if he wasn’t his 100 per cent. But as he would have it, the man sat out throughout the season.

And now, as every superstar in Brooklyn is trying to leave, for some reason, the former Sixers guard who is on his 3rd year of $177 million contract has deactivated his IG account.

We can partly blame Simmons for these circumstances because The Slim Reaper, still having to kick in on his 4-year $198 million contract, wanted to be in the franchise for a long run and lead it to multiple championships.

Irving’s hesitance in opting in for his last year $36.9 million contract and his clear intentions of running it back with LeBron James surely would have made Durant make his mind to put in a transfer request, but Simmons keeping himself from any action in Brooklyn didn’t help him in staying either.

Also read: “LeBron James winning his 5th ring”: NBA Twitter reacts to reports of Russell Westbrook-Kyrie Irving trade

Post Edited By: Akash Murty
Ben Simmons Brooklyn Nets Kevin Durant

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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