After Ben Simmons fouled out in his Nets debut, Kyrie Irving shared a simple message with his new teammate in the locker room post-game.
“He’s a valuable piece for us and we need him out there, and fouling out is not an option,” Irving said at the time.
But on Tuesday, it happened again. This time though it was not as egregious given the circumstances, with Kevin Durant adamant Simmons’ play on Ja Morant was not a foul.
Even still, prominent ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith — one of Simmons’ biggest critics — actually described the Australian’s latest early exit as “encouraging”.
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Simmons and Kyrie combine vs. Raptors | 01:08
Why? Well, according to Smith it showed that Simmons cared and is…
