How The Addition Of Ben Simmons In Brooklyn Affects the Miami Heat

Simmons is expected to bolster an already strong Brooklyn Nets lineup

Just before the trade deadline, the Philadelphia 76ers exchanged Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for James Harden and Paul Millsap. 

The Nets remain the favorite to win the NBA championship despite trading away Harden. Simmons, with a fresh start on a new team, has a chance to revive his career.

He was largely criticized for his performance during last year's NBA playoffs, especially the Game 7 loss against the Atlanta Hawks. However, Simmons can gain his momentum back within Brooklyn and that could mean trouble for the Miami Heat.

While the Heat are still the top seed in the Eastern Conference, they will have to pay attention to the Nets. Brooklyn is the eighth seed, but its recent struggles were due to an injury to Kevin Durant and the lack of presence from Kyrie Irving. 

In addition to them returning, the Nets will also have the shooting ability of Curry, and the defensive presences of Simmons and Drummond. Simmons is a three-time All-Star and two-time All-Defensive selection. 

“We’ll really just look forward,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “We’re excited to incorporate these new guys into our group. I think they fill needs for us. It should be an exciting time for us to reset and rebuild, and hopefully put together a really competitive and terrific team in a short period of time here.”

Even though Nash stated that the Nets had no intentions of trading away Harden prior to the deadline, he said the trade was “not surprising.”

“I’m not surprised,” Nash said. “I think as the hours ticked by today it seemed more apparent, but you’re never surprised. But when I asked those questions, there was no conversation between the two teams.”

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant