Brooklyn Nets point guard Ben Simmons has probably broken a record this season that will be hard to break, and it’s no joke, he hasn’t played a single game for his former team the Philadelphia 76ers and is probably the player who has generated the most headlines in NBA history without playing a single minute.
As the last week of the regular season begins, the note with Simmons, while not surprising, is an ideal culmination for his situation and this Monday Nets coach Steve Nash announced that the Australian is ruled out not only for the rest of the regular season, but also will not see action in the play-in, where Brooklyn has already secured his participation.
Nets are 10th in the Eastern Conference
The Nets, disappointingly, are in tenth place in the Eastern Conference standings, with a record of 40-38, just the same record as the Charlotte Hornets, who, however, beat them in the tiebreaker criteria.
Under the play-in rules, the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth teams enter the playoffs, where the winner of the two teams with the best record qualifies as seventh to the postseason and the loser receives the winner of the two teams with the worst record.
This means that, if the campaign ended today, the Nets would visit the Hornets and if they win they would have to visit the loser between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks with the hope of winning both games on the road without Simmons and miraculously get into the eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
A nightmare season
Simmons was traded before the trade deadline to the Nets from the 76ers in a deal that included the arrival of James Harden in Philadelphia.
The good news for Brooklyn is that in the four remaining regular season games they will not have to take a plane, as on Tuesday they host the Houston Rockets, on Wednesday they visit the New York Knicks in the same city, on Friday they will be at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers and on Sunday also at the Barclays Center against the Indiana Pacers.
Marca
