NBA 2K22 savagely nerfs Ben Simmons trades in-game

As rumors swirl around the NBA about Ben Simmons’ future, NBA 2K22 appears to have made its own stance on the player’s trade value by massively nerfing his stock on the market.

NBA 2K22’s franchise/GM mode is like many others of the same breed; players build rosters, make trades, and try to form the best team possible.

In doing so, you’re often tasked with trading players to other teams. You offer some players and/or picks up, then an AI-generated manager from the other team accepts or denies the offer depending on the quality of the offers and the picks on the table.

For the 2016 #1 overall pick, Ben Simmons, it appears that 2K22 has made him near untradeable, mimicking the current-day situation involving the player.

It looks almost impossible to trade away Ben Simmons in 2K22

One player highlighted this apparent struggle in a December 8 Reddit post to the NBA 2K subreddit.

“Ben Simmons trades have been completely nerfed lmaoooo” is the apt title of the post, as the player is seen attempting a trade deal with the Portland Trailblazers (a rumored trade destination in real life) for the 76ers Guard-Forward.

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The first offer had Simmons and five draft picks for C.J. McCollum. The opposing GM denies the deal, despite McCollum being rated at just 3-stars versus Simmons and the draft picks representing 7 stars combined. They then proceed to sweeten the pot, making the draft picks better to include a whopping three first-round picks, only to be denied again.

Finally, for the hefty price of Ben Simmons, three first-rounders and two second-rounders (totaling 10 stars worth of value) the player is able to seal the deal and land C.J. McCollum in a trade that would make any real-life GM drool.

Having the team finally accept the deal confirms the denial had nothing to do with cap space or anything of the sort. Instead, this might have been a decision by the 2K22 devs to sort of shadow-nerf the struggling Simmons.

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As this article is being finalized, no IRL NBA trade deals have yet to come through for Simmons, despite the rumor mill that continues to swirl away.

There’s almost no chance the 76ers would be willing to pay what this player did to get rid of Simmons but if the recent reports about the him are to be true, a team willing to take him could stand to make a great deal.