NBA Notebook: Nets' Simmons finally returns to Philadelphia

A rash of injuries to notable players around the league has been dominating headlines, a scoring burst from an unlikely source may have you re-evaluating what’s possible for the Nets, and the Kings might actually be good this season.

Here’s what’s buzzing around the NBA right now.

Can the Nets turn this thing around?

After about two and a half years, Ben Simmons will play basketball again in Philly Tuesday evening, when the Brooklyn Nets visit the Philadelphia 76ers.

Simmons says he knows what to expect given the fact he never truly endeared himself to the Sixers faithful and his absence from the team – because of injury and otherwise – only cemented the disdain the fanbase has for him.

The boos will rain down on him steadily, but considering the way he’s played lately, there’s a chance Simmons will get to silence his former team’s passionate supporters.

Simmons has reached double-digit scoring in each of his last three games, including a 22-point outburst in Brooklyn’s 127-115 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, the first time Simmons has reached at least 20 points in scoring since he was a 76er in the playoffs against the Washington Wizards on May 26, 2021.

For an all-star calibre player like Simmons is, reaching 20 points doesn’t seem all that impressive, but his health problems (both physically and mentally) have appeared to rob him of his offensive skills, something that now could be on the verge of correcting itself.

If whatever block that was holding back Simmons’ game is now getting cleared up, it could be massive for the Nets. Simmons has scored 11, 15 and 22 points respectively in Brooklyn’s last three contests, shooting 22-for-26 from the floor, with 26 rebounds and 15 assists combined as the Nets have gone 2-1.

Kevin Durant remains as lethal as ever, averaging 30.4 points per game on 53.1 per cent shooting from the floor. The addition of a possibly revitalized Simmons would certainly raise the ceiling of a Nets team that’s sitting on an 8-9 record in 10th place in the East at the moment.

Simmons looking like he may have rediscovered his old form in addition to the return of Kyrie Irving – who has apparently done enough after his suspension from the team for posting a link to an antisemitic film – might allow Brooklyn to salvage what was looking like a lost season.

Injury news dominating the NBA

An unfortunately common thread just about a quarter-way through this NBA season has been the amount of injuries that we’ve seen piled up across the league to key players.

The Sixers have their three best players – Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey – all out, and the Toronto Raptors look to only have Fred VanVleet and O.G. Anunoby available to play now with the amount of injuries they’ve sustained.

Further, stars across the league such as LeBron James, Anthony Davis, LaMelo Ball, Paul George, Ja Morant, Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard, Mike Conley and Bradley Beal are all banged up and may or may not play their next games, respectively.

This is a bad look for a professional sports league that markets its stars greater than any other in the world.

Of course, there isn’t too much the league can do about this. Injuries do just happen. There are even larger gaps in the schedule for teams this season to try to help prevent this from happening, but the injury bug has still ravaged the league.

The argument will always be there to reduce the length of the regular season from 82 to try to ensure that the best product is always hitting the floor, but that’s a difficult conversation to have since it’s been established for so long already.

Something the NBA might want to reconsider, though, in light of all the injuries this season, is the mid-season tournament that’s supposedly projected to come to the league next season. Such an event would likely only add more games – or at least more high-impact games – to an already long, gruelling marathon of a regular season and post-season.

What is it about John Collins that the Hawks don’t like?

The Atlanta Hawks are reportedly shopping John Collins – again.

A prescient question regarding this: Why?

Collins is in the midst of his worst season since his rookie year, but he’s still averaging 12.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game on 49.7 per cent shooting as he and the rest of the Hawks adjust to having Dejounte Murray on the team.

For his career, Collins has averaged 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per contest on 55.7 per cent shooting, meaning while he’s down now, odds are he’ll pick it up. Which is why it’s so confusing why the Hawks would want to trade him.

Collins is still only 25 years old and is one of the better roll threats in the league. His game pairs well with creative ballhandlers and passers like Trae Young and Murray and the Hawks’ 10-7 record to begin the season is thanks in part to contributions from him.

Collins is a solid player. Unless Atlanta’s getting back something comparable to him in exchange in a trade it seems bizarre that it wants to deal him. Then again, this isn’t the first time Collins’ name has been bandied about in trade rumours over the years.

There might just be something the Hawks don’t like about him, personally.

Return of the Kings

The Sacramento Kings are the hottest team in the NBA, having won six games straight as they’ve shot up the Western Conference standings, now sitting in fifth place.

This might seems like an early-season fluke, but when you consider the fact the Kings boast the league’s best offence, putting up 118.6 points per 100 possessions and boast the seventh-best net rating in the NBA, you have to consider that this is more than just a flash in the pan – despite being one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

The Kings are getting it done thanks in part to the off-season focus to add shooting in the form of a trade for Kevin Huerter from the Hawks, the free-agent acquisition of Malik Monk and the drafting of Keegan Murray No. 4 overall, complementing the playmaking skills of De’Aaron Fox and inside bruising from Domantas Sabonis.

Fox was recently named Western Conference Player of the Week as having an army of shooters to kick out to from his penetration has made him one of the most unstoppable players in the league this season.

Sacramento’s front office deserves praise for the job it did re-tooling the Kings into what they are today, especially after it was criticized for it’s trade-deadline deals last season, moving a package that included Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield to the Indiana Pacers as it brought in a package highlighted by Sabonis.

The trade, as it turns out, has worked out for both sides. Sabonis has been an excellent screen partner with Fox as the Kings have turned their fortunes around this season and Haliburton, who was just named Eastern Conference Player of the Week, looks like a budding star with the Pacers who are sitting in fourth place in the East.

Both the Kings and Pacers have looked to have emerged as winners of that deadline deal.