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NBA Executive Links Ben Simmons To The Golden State Warriors: “He Could Take Over The Draymond Role”
The Golden State Warriors haven’t been living up to expectations this season. Through 18 games, the reigning NBA champions are sitting outside of the play-in tournament and currently rank 11th in the Western Conference with an 8-10 record.
The Warriors are the favorites to win the NBA championship coming into the season, but they aren’t looking like one in terms of their performance thus far. The good thing is that the NBA is still early in the season and the team definitely has several options left to turn a corner.
Considering this, a Western Conference executive now told Heavy.com that the Warriors could try to bring in 26-year old Brooklyn Nets point guard Ben Simmons. As an elite defensive player and playmaker, the aforementioned West executive thinks Simmons could take over the role of Draymond Green.
“As much as they do not want to trade any of their young guys, the idea of bringing in Ben Simmons at age 26, that would be the kind of thing that maybe would get them to change course. He could take over the Draymond role with that team and he is a lot more athletic, a better passer and potentially as much of a defensive presence—potentially. He lacks Draymond’s fire and passion, obviously. Would the Nets do it? That’s the question. But if you can get (Jonathan) Kuminga and Draymond in a swap for Simmons, if you’re the Nets, that is not a bad deal.
The thing about the Warriors is they look at where Andrew Wiggins is now and they think they can fix anyone. Even Simmons. It is a good environment for him to be in, with workers like Klay (Thompson) and Steph (Curry) there, it is a high bar to reach and you saw how it changed Wiggins.Maybe it’d work for Simmons, too,” a Western Conference executive told Heavy Sports.
