Spencer Dinwiddie: Ben Simmons at his best is a far more athletic version of Draymond Green

Mike Dunleavy Jr: So that stuff, I don’t have a whole lot of worries about that. But I think just the common thread of competitiveness, intelligence and just being adults, those things make me believe that this thing can work out. I think for those guys, Draymond (and) Steph, especially, like you said, they’ve been through the wars with Chris for so many years and Chris the same way, that I think it came down to just that initial idea of it. There’s a little bit of a shock. And then once you settle in and think about it, and the ways that it would work, I think they quickly came back to, ‘This is kind of a no-brainer.’ And that’s the way we felt as an organization, as a front office, was that this deal makes a lot of sense. And barring anything where somebody’s pushing back against it on either side, we should go through with it. -via The Athletic / September 26, 2023

Anthony Slater: The Warriors veterans (Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson) have set up player workouts in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco this summer. Motivation level is obvious. Mike Dunleavy: “Chris Paul took a 6 am Southwest flight up here for a workout.” -via Twitter @anthonyVslater / September 26, 2023

Anthony Slater: The Warriors veterans (Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson) have set up player workouts in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco this summer. Motivation level is obvious. Mike Dunleavy: “Chris Paul took a 6 am Southwest flight up here for a workout.” pic.twitter.com/sPaAhn1Lgm -via Twitter @anthonyVslater / September 25, 2023

Nets Daily: Revised: Nets players Mikal Bridges, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dennis Smith Jr, Lonnie Walker IV, Day’Ron Sharpe, and Royce O’Neale plus from front office GM Sean Marks, Assistant GM Andy Birdsong, Assistant coaches Corey Vinson and Ryan Forehan-Kelly were all at the Liberty game. -via Twitter @NetsDaily / September 17, 2023

Nets Daily: So from what I’ve seen, Mikal Bridges, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dennis Smith Jr, Lonnie Walker IV, Day’Ron Sharpe, and Royce O’Neale (plus Sean Marks) were all at Liberty-Mystics game Friday night. Previously we’ve seen Harry Giles III at a Liberty game. Close to a quorum or a huddle. -via Twitter @NetsDaily / September 16, 2023

Here’s some of what Dinwiddie had to say about Claxton: “I think Nic (Claxton) is going to try to establish himself as one of the premier big men in the league, especially being in a contract year and heading into free agency next year. I think Nic is going to make the biggest jump. I think he’s going to be supremely motivated. I think we’re going to see a big-time year from him.” -via Nets Wire / September 9, 2023

Marks didn’t want to publicly state any expectations for Simmons this season while speaking to the media on Tuesday. But privately, those who have spent time around Simmons feel that his offseason quotes are based on substance. They say he’s looking good and seems primed for a comeback season. -via SportsNet New York / September 27, 2023

The relationship between Simmons and the team became strained, but after Marks and Vaughn visited him repeatedly in Miami, they have a much better rapport now. “At that time, I was at a place where as a coach I’m always going to have a standard, and that standard is of what I expect guys on the team to do, how we want them to play and ask them to do things for the sake of the team,” Vaughn said. “[Our] relationship is in such a good place right now because we’ve been able to talk through that moment of our lives where I expected him to do things that I’ve come to understand that physically he wasn’t able to do. -via New York Post / September 26, 2023

The Nets talked to multiple teams about trades involving Simmons ahead of the 2023 NBA trade deadline. The idea was to get off of his contract, per multiple teams in touch with Brooklyn at the time. There was one Southeast Division team with a legitimate interest in trading for Simmons then as a reclamation project. But outside of that, teams were wary of bringing him on. -via SportsNet New York / September 26, 2023