Brooklyn Net’s $63m Ben Simmons question in NBA tank job

The Brooklyn Nets are in a race to the bottom in the 2024/25 NBA season but will Ben Simmons be part of a mass exodus?

The first big domino has fallen in Brooklyn’s tanking bid.

Dennis Schroder is being traded to the Golden State Warriors, with Brooklyn sending the veteran point guard and a second-round pick for De’Anthony Melton and three second-rounders.

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The news was first reported by ESPN and it may just be the first of many moves for the Nets, with Dorian Finney-Smith and Cam Johnson also expected to have interest on the trade market.

Australian Ben Simmons is also a “fascinating name” to monitor according to NBA insider Jake Fischer, who suggested on Bleacher Report that the Australian’s $US40 million ($A63m) expiring contract could be traded to a team looking to clear cap space for next off-season.

“That’s the main reason why Brooklyn is set up to have a lot of cap space moving forward this summer,” Fischer said.

“They can get up to $70 million in cap space depending on the other moves they make, if they move off of all of their veteran players that are for sale.

“I don’t think anyone is trading $40 million of outgoing salary for Ben Simmons the player right now.

Ben Simmons’ future is up in the air. Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

“But it just keeps getting mentioned, nobody is really going to have a lot of cap space on the open market outside of the Nets so would a team out there, come February, be interested in trying to send contract back to Brooklyn that maybe is a young player, maybe is someone that has upside moving forward … I just do wonder if someone is going to be able to incentivise Brooklyn enough to take back long-term salary.

“If you get two extra first-round picks out of the deal, something like that, would there be some optionality for the Nets to get off Ben Simmons. I don’t know?”

Of course, Brooklyn could just let Simmons’ contract expire to keep its cap space open, but as Fischer pointed out it is a matter of what other teams could offer the Nets to incentivise them to move him.

Originally published as Brooklyn Net’s $63m Ben Simmons question in NBA tank job