After his Stein Line teammate Jake Fischer reported that the Kings and Knicks look like the top candidates to land Ben Simmons, NBA insider Marc Stein suggests within his latest Substack article that at least a couple more clubs are in the mix for the former No. 1 overall pick.
According to Stein, Simmons has drawn interest from the Celtics since free agency began and has also had some recent conversations with the Suns.
While a couple of those teams could offer Simmons a portion of their mid-level exception, most of them have tax- or apron-related concerns that would make a minimum-salary offer more likely for the former 76er, who celebrated his 29th birthday on Sunday. Phoenix would cross the tax line with even a veteran-minimum signing, New York has used its full taxpayer mid-level exception, and Boston is currently operating slightly above the second tax apron.
Simmons is a three-time All-Star who has made a pair of All-Defensive first teams and was the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up in 2021, but he has battled back issues in recent years and has been a tricky fit in lineups that feature any other non-shooters. In 51 total appearances for the Nets and Clippers last season, he averaged 5.0 points, 5.6 assists, and 4.7 rebounds in 22.0 minutes per game.
Here’s more from Stein:
- Following up on Lawrence Frank‘s comments on Saturday about the Clippers “strongly, strongly considering” Chris Paul, Stein suggests that most rival front offices view the veteran point guard as “the Clippers’ signee to lose.”
- With Jared Dudley and J.J. Barea set to occupy the top two spots on David Adelman‘s bench in Denver, the Nuggets don’t intend to hire an assistant specifically for their third front-of-bench position. Instead, the plan is to rotate assistants in and out of that role depending on game-to-game scouting responsibilities, Stein explains. Ognjen Stojakovic, a holdover from Michael Malone‘s staff who is close with Nikola Jokic, is one coach expected to be in the rotation for that third assistant slot, Stein adds.
- League sources confirm to Stein that the Celtics are continuing to explore the trade market for recently acquired guard Anfernee Simons.
- The Mavericks will congregate in Canada this fall, according to Stein, who says the team’s training camp will be held in Vancouver, B.C.
Whoever wastes a roster spot signing this guy is, is a complete fool. He clearly doesn’t care about basketball and just wants to collect a paycheck and party.
Horrible locker room guy
I think anyone who follows basketball knows that Ben Simmons is trouble. Honestly, at this point I wonder why he doesn’t just commit to the ABL or some European team for a year or two to rebuild his reputation.
That said, I do think fans commenting on what a player is like in the locker room or as a teammate is kinda silly. Most of us aren’t even very good at judging how good someone is on defense or playing off ball. But we really have no clue when it comes to what these guys are like as people. Is he a horrible locker room guy? Maybe. But maybe that’s just something that we can never know and shouldn’t spend too much time thinking about.
To your larger point, agree 100% with the idea that he is a waste of a roster spot for most teams. Someone would really have to sell me on the idea that there is some value in Simmons that I (as a fan) just haven’t been able to see since roughly 2019.
He is not built for NY. Can’t have him and KAT on the same team. KAT produces and still gets it from fans and media. Ben gives triple singles and will be played off the court for fts.
NYK are committed to playing with essentially 13 guys, and have only 1 more vet minimum contract slot. IMO, it can’t be Simmons, at least not on a guaranteed contract. His availability is too spotty.
I bet Ben Simmons gets a 1-year minimum deal, and it goes nowhere and the team waives him midseason. Then we never see him the league again apart from maybe a 10-day deal late in the season.