Ben Simmons future, Matisse Thybulle trade to Portland Trail Blazers, Dallas
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Ben Simmons has seen his role drastically decreased in Brooklyn after struggling following the recent departures of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, while Matise Thybulle has an expanded role on a completely new team after being traded from the 76ers.
Meanwhile Josh Green and Jock Landale look set to step up for the Mavericks and Suns respectively in the wake of Irving’s arrival in Dallas and KD’s arrival in Phoenix.
Moves made ahead of the NBA trade deadline have had a massive ripple effect throughout the league and it’s certainly changed things for our Aussie expats with several more stars from Down Under having big roles to play for playoff teams, and others facing key challenges.
With the NBA world taking a deep breath over the All-Star break and things set to really start to heating up when play resumes as the postseason just around the corner, foxsports.com.au has taken a look at how all the Australians in the NBA have been tracking in recent weeks.
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BEN SIMMONS (Brooklyn Nets)
Simmons is back playing basketball after missing all of last season.
That’s about where the positives have ended for the former All-Star point guard this season.
Coming off the bench in the Nets’ last four games since the departure of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, his minutes are noticeably decreasing. Simmons is averaging a career-low in nearly every category with 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists a game.
Both he and his coach aren’t sure what his role with the team will look like moving forward now that he hasn’t got shooters the calibre of KD and Kyrie to help space the floor around him as he continues with his offensive struggles.
Things only got worse for Simmons after last week’s matchup against the Knicks, a team the Nets had not lost to in three years, with Simmons displaying the same unwillingness to score that fans have been so accustomed to seeing from him since his meltdown in the Atlanta playoff series two years ago that marked the end of his time in Philly.
Following the game, the 26-year-old was brutalised by the US media with the worst comments coming from ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins and Zach Lowe who labelled Ben as a “scared” and “broken player” that has become “sad to watch” during an appearance on ‘NBA Today’.
Simmons branded ‘a broken player’ | 03:29
To his credit he bounced back to show a glimpse of his old self in last Thursday’s game…
Read More: Ben Simmons future, Matisse Thybulle trade to Portland Trail Blazers, Dallas 2023-02-22 21:03:47