No one knows for sure what the Brooklyn Nets roster is going to look like once the NBA regular season rolls around in October. The team is involved in several trade rumors, headlined by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Durant requested a trade from the team ahead of free agency. Should the team find a deal that they like for him, an Irving trade may not be too far behind. One x-factor in all of these trade negotiations is Ben Simmons.

Since Simmons is a Designated Rookie, the pool of players that the Nets can acquire in a trade shrinks a little bit. Because of the Designated Rookie rule, the NBA has in place, teams can only have two such players on the roster. But, only one of those players can be traded for. Since Simmons qualifies for that, some players Brooklyn would have targeted in exchange for Durant are ineligible to be acquired.

Simmons could be involved in a trade to alleviate the issue, but at this time, a trade involving him seems unlikely. His value isn’t very high since he sat out the entire 2021-22 season and no one knows what he will give a team on the court right now.