The Nets will have a decision to make a point guard this offseason, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Ben Simmons and Dennis Schröder, both of whom have been starters this season when healthy, will be entering the final year of their respective contracts. And while Simmons’ $40MM cap hit may ensure he remains in Brooklyn, it has been Schröder who has taken on a leadership role since being acquired at the trade deadline.
“He was a leader right when he got in,” interim head coach Kevin Ollie said. “He brings a championship mentality. … He just has a natural ability to lead, ability to win. You know winners when you see them. They hold everybody accountable, but they make themselves full of accountability, too. That’s what he did first and foremost.”
Schröder has been the healthier of the two players, making more appearances since being dealt to the Nets in February (29) than Simmons made all season (15) before undergoing back surgery last month. That track record of good health, along with his $13MM expiring contract, would make him easier to trade this summer than Simmons, who is still on a max deal. But Schröder has expressed a desire to stick with the Nets, as Lewis relays.
“I always want to be stationed somewhere where people show me appreciation,” he said on Wednesday. “And I felt that from the first day — people reaching out to my family, to my wife, to my mom. That shows, OK, they really [want me]. And the playing style, as well, I like. They trust me, in what I am capable of. … I know the business side of it as well. So, I’m not taking anything emotional or personal. I know how it is. But at the end of the day, of course I want to stay here.”
Here’s more out of Brooklyn:
- Nets center Noah Clowney continues to make a positive impression in his late-season audition for a larger role next season, per Bridget Reilly of The New York Post. Making his second career start on Wednesday, the rookie big man racked up a career-high seven blocks to go with 10 points and seven rebounds in a win over Toronto. Ollie lauded the Nets’ G League coaching staff in Long Island for preparing Clowney to contribute at the NBA level. “I think they just did a great job coaching him, putting him in situations down there so when we got him he was already set,” Ollie said. “He knew exactly what we wanted to do, how he can perform, and he came in ready.”
- Even with the Nets battling a series of injuries, Lonnie Walker has been a DNP-CD in two of the team’s past four games, according to Collin Helwig of NetsDaily, who believes Walker’s inconsistent role throughout the season signals that the two sides will go their separate ways when the veteran swingman becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.
- NetsDaily passes along some notable quotes from a recent Joe Tsai podcast appearance in which the Nets’ owner discussed how he got involved in the NBA, his impressions of the league’s economics, and why it’s “absolutely fun” to control an NBA franchise.
The only choice is whether to cut Ben or not. Even when he was healthy he never took coaching well or put in effort to grow as a player. He’s going to keep collecting paychecks doing no work. He’s played a total of 57 games since the Hawks series. He won’t be any different next year and no one will trade for him unless they are trying to unload longer contracts and use him as an expiring.