Ben Simmons will not have a clear role with the Brooklyn Nets

Ben Simmons will not have a clear role with the Brooklyn Nets: Teammates’ roles and Durant’s health

Durant’s and Irving’s skillsets have forced their teammates to spend a significant amount of their possessions as roll men and cutters. For example, Nic Claxton has spent 28.4 percent of his possessions as a roll man, averaging two possessions per game.

Claxton has usually been a cutter when he is not a roll man, spending 31 percent of his possessions in that play type, averaging two possessions per game in that role as well.

Simmons doesn’t have much experience as a roll man in professional ranks, averaging 0.4 per game. He is shooting 51.3 percent on those attempts, creating 0.4 points per game. Simmons is more accustomed to the cutter role, averaging 2.1 per game.

He is shooting 69.6 percent from the field on 1.8 shots per game and averages 2.8 points as a cutter. However, his role will likely shift depending on the availability of his co-stars.

Durant and Irving have a history of not being able to stay on the court for a full season. Durant has only played 35.3 percent of all eligible games during his tenure as a Net due to various injuries.

For example, after a game against the Golden State Warriors, on February 13, 2021, Brooklyn announced that Durant had suffered a mild left hamstring strain, that was only supposed to keep him out for two games.

Unfortunately, Brooklyn revealed that Durant had a strength deficiency in his left hamstring less than a week later. Consequently, they decided to keep him out of action for a little longer in an effort to regain strength in that hamstring. The left hamstring would end up causing Kevin Durant to miss 23 straight games over the course of nearly two months.