The Brooklyn Nets sent shockwaves throughout the NBA in February when they traded away former league MVP James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for one of the league’s best two-way players in Ben Simmons. After a disappointing finish to the season that saw Brooklyn exit the playoffs in the first round against the Boston Celctics, the last two big stars on the Nets, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, both requested trades in the offseason. With Brooklyn scrambling to make the most out of a desperate situation, the Simmons trade from February could come back to hurt Brooklyn moving forward.
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The issue lies in the current CBA of the league. The rules state that a team can only have one player signed to a rookie contract extension on the roster at a time. Since Simmons is signed to that type of contract, the Nets cannot acquire another player on a similar extension.
This eliminates any chance for Brooklyn to sign players like Deandre Ayton or Andrew Wiggins. The only way for the Nets to sign one of those players would require them to part ways with Simmons, which sources say is unlikely.
“Privately, Nets sources have intimated the latter option, moving Simmons, is unlikely,” the New York Post reported on Thursday. “And when asked if Simmons had gotten assurances he was in the Nets’ long-term plans and would not be traded, a source close to the young All-Star told The Post simply that ‘Ben is good.’”