Despite their surprising start to the 2024-25 NBA season, the Nets have made it clear they intend to tank. The team traded Dennis Schroeder and Dorian Finney-Smith in separate deals centered around second-round picks. Those are two quality role players that Brooklyn offloaded without receiving at least one first-round pick. Although the front office intends to tank, it doesn’t reflect the players’ intention. Nets forward Ben Simmons reveals he has no interest in tanking, which has resulted in fans trolling him.
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Brian Lewis of the New York Post spoke with Simmons following the Nets’ heartbreaking 112-111 loss to the Jazz. There are plenty of conversations about how stacking together losses is good for Brooklyn. However, that’s the last thing Simmons wants to hear. He said,
“I know this is kind of like a rebuild situation, but we’ve got to go in there like we want to win regardless of what the front office is expecting.”
Ben Simmons doesn’t want to tank
“We’ve got to go in there like we want to win regardless of what the front office is expecting.” 👀
(Via @NYPost_Lewis ) pic.twitter.com/tSwOzLVgRq
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 13, 2025
The majority of basketball fans applaud a player for their determination to win. However, that wasn’t the reaction Simmons received for his comments. Instead, fans ridiculed the former All-NBA player by highlighting his poor statistical performance this season.
Simmons is currently averaging 6.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game this season. His inability to crack double digits in any of the main categories led to trolling from a fan calling him a “triple single legend”.
Triple single legend
— Kiwiju (@CosmicalHorror) January 13, 2025
One of the big detriments to Simmons’ productivity is his availability. He has dealt with significant back injuries, which have kept him sidelined. One user brought this up by stating, “Bro is never on the court”.
Bro is never on the court sooooo
— Hollywood Hernandez (@HollywoodHrndz) January 13, 2025
In large part, the backlash Simmons receives is due to his past actions of not competing. His fallout with the Sixers is a perfect example.
Ben Simmons willfully sat out games
When the relationship between the Sixers and Simmons soured ahead of the 2021-22 season, the 6-foot-10 guard refused to play. Instead of suiting up for the Sixers he paid fines until the team found a trade suitor for him. In total, he paid almost $19 million as punishment for his refusal to suit up. As a result, fans are calling out Simmons for his hypocrisy as he hasn’t competed while being able to.
In addition, the backlash traveled once he came to Brooklyn. In the 2022 playoffs, there were high hopes that Simmons would make his season debut in Game 4 of their first-round series against the Celtics. Brooklyn needed the support as they faced a 3-0 deficit. To make matters worse, Nash revealed Simmons didn’t show any signs of a setback in scrimmages.
Fans and members of NBA circles called out Simmons for his lack of competitive fire. It is great that he’s captured that competitive energy once again, but it won’t change that the best course of action for this team is to gather a high lottery pick.
