Ben Simmons Wraps up Nets Era With Aggressive Clippers Debut, Contrast to Brooklyn Performances

The Ben Simmons era in Brooklyn is now over, with the former Net playmaker officially having played his first game in his next uniform. The Australian playmaker helped the LA Clippers to an overtime comeback win over the Utah Jazz on Thursday.

Simmons scored 12 points (4-of-5 shooting, 4-of-4 from the line), and added seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and one block to his stat sheet over 27 minutes. He’d scored 12 points or more four times in his 33 games with the Nets this season.

Simmons said after the game: "Just [took] it a play at a time. That's just my whole philosophy playing the game anyway, just having a short-term memory in terms of [...] focusing on the next play, so whether it goes our way or not — getting a stop, getting a bucket — it's the next play after that.”

Simmons looked aggressive in his first game for Ty Lue’s squad. He played with contact near the basket and got to the free throw line.

“It was new for us,” Clippers head coach Lue said. “It was his first game. I thought he did a great job, just reading the game, his IQ, making the right play, aggressive to the basket.”

His four made foul shots have only been topped once this year — on Dec. 21 with five free throws converted also against the Jazz — and he’d only shot four or more free throws twice this season.

Evidently, this was a stark contrast to Simmons’ play in Brooklyn. At one point during the season, from Oct. 27 until Nov. 29, he didn't take any trips to the free throw line. Right at the start of that streak, so to speak, head coach Jordi Fernández said that he wanted Simmons to take “10 to 15” field goal attempts per game. He only attempted more than 10 shots twice this season, coincidentally once again against Utah.

“I don’t want [Simmons] to drive to pass,” Fernández said then.

The 6-foot-10 point guard joined the Clippers after reaching a buyout with the Nets. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Simmons is effectively playing for his next contract now. Before joining the Clippers, the Dallas Mavericks were interested in obtaining his services, per The Stein Line.

After Simmons’ buyout, the Nets’ roster now stands at 17 total players (14 on standard deals, three on two-ways). NBA teams are allowed to carry 18 players. Brooklyn could convert a two-way, such as Tyrese Martin, to a regular contract and then sign a ballhandler to a two-way. The roster lacks playmakers following Simmons’ departure.

Reece Beekman, one of the Nets’ two-ways who landed in Brooklyn via the trade that sent Dennis Schröder to the Golden State Warriors, has basically been a non-factor. De’Anthony Melton, who also arrived to the Nets from the Warriors, is out for the season. That said, the Nets are now on a hot streak and inching closer to the play-in, so a back-up (if that) likely wouldn’t figure much in the team’s plans.

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