Ben Simmons has seemingly taken a thinly-veiled swipe at former star teammates Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving after the pair jumped ship from Brooklyn last season.
Durant, Irving and Simmons were meant to form a fearsome trio that would contend for an NBA title, but both were traded in-season, torpedoing the Nets’ championship dreams and leaving Simmons with a host of new teammates.
Simmons is now flanked by the likes of Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale, and said he was excited by the new direction of the Nets franchise while seemingly taking a shot at the stars who have left the team over the last few seasons.
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“I think just playing with guys who are just easy to play with, that just have one goal and that’s to win. I don’t think guys have too many individual goals,” he told FOX-5.
“I think the team is going to come first and I think the culture that (Nets coach) Jacque Vaughn and (general manager) Sean Marks are building now has been incredible.”
Simmons faces a big season after coming off a career-worst campaign derailed by persistent back injuries.
The Aussie heads into the final two years of his bumper five-year, $274 million deal needing to lift his game if he’s to receive an extension from the Nets, and is ready to bounce back.
“(I feel) amazing. I think this is the first summer where I’ve really had to just get healthy and get back on track to where I need to be,” he said.
“I’m super excited to be on Brooklyn, obviously. And then we’ve got a great, great team, a great coach in Jacque Vaughn. So I’m excited. I think this year is gonna be a completely different year to the past couple.”
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