What Would A Good Ben Simmons Season Look Like?

The Ben Simmons experience has been anything but pleasant so far for the Brooklyn Nets.

And with two years at a total of over $78 million remaining on his Supermax contract given back in 2020, the return on investment does not seem to be coming anytime soon.

But with James Harden still in the news looking less likely to suit up for Philadelphia than ever before, and Ben Simmons looking closer to his once-elite self in the preseason, could the Nets actually have won this trade after all?

The most appropriate answer to who won the blockbuster “Harden for Simmons” trade is most likely neither team, but with a seemingly healthy Simmons expected to start the season for Brooklyn, he could be the biggest decider in how talented the Nets can be in 2023.

After playing just 42 games last season, Simmons averaged 6.9 points, 6.1 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game, which were all career lows.

His consistency was faulty at best, including some games like his 20-point outburst on 100% shooting against Indianna, or his triple-double against Sacramento, but healthy clearly impacted his abilities.

So, with Simmons healthy heading into the season, what should be the expectation-level for the former number 1 pick?

In Brooklyn’s starting five (Spencer Dinwiddie, Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Nic Claxton), Simmons’ best role may be as the 4th-best scoring option. While his paycheck should make him at worst the second-best option, the unique cap situation for the Nets allows Simmons to be the player that makes him so uniquely talented.

So while he may be on the borderline of averaging over 10 points per game, if his assists and rebounds resemble his averages as a part of the 76ers, and he returns to form as a top-5 defender on the opponents best scorer, the Nets could realistically finish with home-court advantage in the first round.

With a young team like Brooklyn which currently lacks a star to bring them to the Finals, their way to win this regular season will be on the defensive end. This allows the development of Bridges, Johnson, or even Cam Thomas without needing to score at the level that Milwaukee or Boston can.

So, if we were to see the average statline of Simmons last two seasons played (11.2 ppg / 6.8rpg / 6.6ast / 1.5 stl / 0.6 blk), the Nets could be a surprising team in the NBA in 2023-24.