Nic Claxton Starts, Ben Simmons Benched: How do Brooklyn Nets Adjust Their Rotation?

Jordi Fernández moved Ben Simmons out of the Brooklyn Nets’ first five in the team’s close overtime loss to the Boston Celtics.

Nov 3, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons (10) brings the ball up court in the third quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Jordi Fernández’s first major decision as Brooklyn Nets head coach came on Friday night, as he started Nic Claxton against the Boston Celtics and moved three-time NBA All-Star Ben Simmons out of the team’s first five. 

Until now, it had been Simmons starting, with Claxton coming off the bench as he continued recovering from the left hamstring issue that caused him to miss preseason. Fernández had not quite needed to address this lineup matter yet, as Claxton was presumably building up to game fitness, and both players hadn’t coincided at full health.  

For instance, Claxton was inactive for the Nets’ first game against the Memphis Grizzlies, in which Simmons played. Then, the former got his first start of the season in the team’s second match-up versus Memphis. That wasn’t a convoluted decision, though, as Simmons is not playing on both nights of back-to-backs this season right now and the Nets didn’t have Noah Clowney, Trendon Watford or Day’Ron Sharpe available. 

Eventually, though, this item had to be resolved, and Brooklyn’s game against Boston marked Claxton’s first start of the campaign with Simmons active. This, in turn, changed the Nets’ rotation — presumably for the foreseeable future.

Simmons said after the game in comments picked up by ClutchPoints that he was aware of the lineup change prior to tip-off: “For the flow of the team — whatever the team needs me to do, in terms of whether it's coming off the bench or starting, I gotta do. That's what Coach wants right now. It is what it is.” 

Ben Simmons off the bench means that he effectively comes in at the 5 for the #Nets.

Jordi Fernández going with Schröder/Thomas/Wilson/Ziaire/Simmons. Nice pass from Ben here to get the assist. pic.twitter.com/TbcAx1474d

— Wilko (@wilkomcv) November 9, 2024

Brooklyn started Claxton with Dennis Schröder, Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. This was Fernández’s lineup with Simmons, but the fit is much more natural with Claxton inserted instead. Among other things, it means that Finney-Smith does not have to defend and box out other teams’ bigs.

Simmons first checked in with 6:08 left in the first quarter. He came in alongside Ziaire Williams in a substitution that removed Claxton and Finney-Smith. Then, the quarter finished — and the second quarter subsequently started — with Simmons surrounded by length and shooting. That seems indicative of how Fernández feels the Australian playmaker, still a non-shooter for all intents and purposes, will thrive.

A very interesting wrinkle came with 6:30 minutes to go in the second quarter. Fernández subbed in Claxton with Simmons already on the court. The 41-year-old Spaniard had previously mentioned that he was not against playing the two together.

“If you go back two years ago when Ben and Nic played together, their minutes together were very good,” Fernández said before the season. “Last year, the sample size was very small. They only played ten games together out of the 15 [Simmons] played, so you cannot use those numbers.”

The stretch with Claxton and Simmons together lasted a little more than two minutes. During that stretch, the Nets’ offense and defense statistically slowed down. That said, in an extremely tiny sample size of just 10 minutes playing together this season, the Claxton-Simmons duo has a surprising +50.24 net rating so far, per PBP Stats.

Simmons checked out of the game with around seven minutes left in the last period, and he did not come back after that. Fernández briefly went to Finney-Smith as the center before subbing Claxton in and ending the game, all the way through overtime, with the former Georgia Bulldog as the man in the middle. 

Going forward, Simmons has no particular expectations about his role — "I try to not expect anything in the NBA,” he said — but this lineup shift appears to be the most logical fit for the Nets (now 4-5). Brooklyn’s next game is Saturday night against the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers (10-0), although Simmons is not expected to play since it’s the second leg of a back-to-back.

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