The Brooklyn Nets are making the trek down to Philadelphia on Thursday night for a showdown between two teams that pulled off the biggest trade of the season last month. Brooklyn parted ways with James Harden and Paul Millsap, and in exchange, the 76ers gave up Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and a collection of draft picks.
Thursday will be the first time those teams have gone head-to-head since the move, and while he’ll watch the game from the bench as he works his way back from a back injury, Simmons’ return to the City of Brotherly Love is in the spotlight, as the expectation is that Sixers fans won’t exactly give him a warm welcome.
In the aftermath of the team’s 132-121 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night, Kevin Durant was asked if he’s discussed the hostile environment Simmons will walk into.
Kevin Durant said he hasn’t offered advice to Ben Simmons about returning to Philly, and spoke on fans that come to games to heckle:
“Some people don’t even enjoy basketball. Their lives are so s***ty that they just get to aim it at other people” pic.twitter.com/X4lq6j3NBK
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) March 9, 2022
“Absolutely not,” Durant said. “That’s one of those things he’s gonna have to experience for himself. I can’t go over there, nobody’s gonna hold his hand, I’m sure it’s gonna be personal attacks, there’s gonna be some words that may trigger you, personally, but that’s just how fans are. They wanna get under our skin, let their voices be heard. Part of the experience of coming to an NBA game is to heckle — some people don’t even enjoy basketball, their lives are sh*tty that they just get to aim it at other people, so it’s easy to kinda get that release at a basketball game.”
Durant did say that he believes Simmons understands this, and that some of the stuff he might hear could end up being pretty funny.
“But at the end of the day, we realize that life is amazing, we play the game of basketball for a living, and a little bit of trash talk is what it is,” Durant finished.
In a follow-up, Durant said that Simmons hasn’t asked him about his first game back in Oklahoma City after leaving the Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors. Durant famously faced a pretty hostile crowd that evening, but if the Nets are lucky, Simmons’ return to Philly will end the same way that Durant’s return to Oklahoma City ended — the Warriors won that game, 130-114.