Ben Simmons' Name "Keeps Getting Mentioned" on Trade Market

So the Brooklyn Nets have sent one point guard out the door with the Dennis Schroder trade, but the one Nets fans would really love to wave goodbye to is Ben Simmons.

The good news is that the man with the worst contract in basketball is on his way out of Brooklyn. By the February 6th trade deadline, if not after the season at least. He's on an expiring $40 million deal. But insider Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report tells us that his name "keeps getting mentioned" in trade talks.

Would a team out there, come February, be interested in trying to send a contract back to Brooklyn that maybe is a young player, maybe has some upside moving forward, that maybe Brooklyn felt they could rehabilitate or even flip for more than Simmons down the line?

I just do wonder if someone is going to be able to incentivize Brooklyn enough to take back long-term salary (in order to) get two extra first-round picks out of the deal.

The receiving team would have the intention of clearing out some long-term money from their books, as Simmons's $40M comes off the books after the season and give that team plenty of cap space next summer.

The Nets would be incentivized by the first-rounders and perhaps a look at a young player for the rest of the season.

In the meantime, Simmons is actually playing this season, though he's a shell of his former three-time All-Star self. He's averaging a career low 5.3 points with 5.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists. He's a triple-single on a nightly basis.