Ben Simmons makes Brooklyn Nets debut: 'I'm grateful just to be able to step on that floor'

NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons made his long-awaited debut with his new team on Monday after almost a year and a half away from the game.

After pushing for a trade out of Philadelphia while citing mental health concerns and then dealing with offseason back surgery, Simmons said he felt «amazing» while scoring six points, dishing out five assists and grabbing four rebounds over 19 minutes in Monday's 127-108 preseason loss to the 76ers.

«I'm grateful just to be able to step on that floor,» Simmons said. «Step on an NBA floor again. I had a lot of fun out there.»

While Simmons showed some understandable rust at times, he seemed to be moving up and down the floor well after a 470-day break between games. Prior to Monday, Simmons last played in an NBA game in June 2021 when the Sixers lost in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Atlanta Hawks.

«That's the one thing, I thought I was going to be nervous,» Simmons said. «But I wasn't nervous. I was excited.»

The Nets have plenty of issues to shore up defensively moving forward. However, players and coaches were excited by what they saw from Simmons on the offensive end — especially playing alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

«I was telling him at halftime, when you're playing with some high-level players, despite what you heard, we're going to make the game easy for you,» Irving said. «And he's going to love playing with us. He's going to love getting up and down the floor with us. But for him to be out there for his first day, and for us to experience it with him, is something that we can remember for the rest of the season as something that we got through. It's day one, highly anticipated. Glad it went his way tonight.»

Simmons said playing