“Contrary to recent reports,” the Mavericks have no interest in trading for Nets swingman Ben Simmons, league sources tell Marc Stein in his latest post at substack.
A couple of weeks ago, Ian Begley of SNY.tv reported that the Nets had “cursory” trade talks with a Western Conference team, then later said those discussions were about a veteran shooter, and Ben Simmons‘ name came up.
Begley cautioned that those talks may not have advanced beyond the exploratory stage, but Brooklyn was rumored to be “aggressive” in its pursuit of shooting.
On the heels of Begley’s reports, a Western Conference executive told Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney last week that the Mavericks might be worth watching.
“Dallas is a team to watch, Simmons would be an interesting fit next to Luka (Doncic) if the Nets were willing to take back (Tim) Hardaway and (Davis) Bertans. I am not sure how much higher the Mavs could go in terms of an offer but that would definitely be interesting for Luka.”
Stein says the Mavericks may have been mentioned “to try to create some sort of market for Simmons,” who has yet to regain his old form after missing all of last season. Simmons missed his fifth game of 2022-23 Sunday with knee soreness, though he seems confident it won’t be a long-term injury.
Here’s more from Stein:
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