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.
So many haters. Ben has great talent and worth taking a punt on for small contract.
Great defence and the way he runs the floor on offence is enough to get him a contract. His upside will make sure of that, and I hope he can be a solid bench contributer this year in NBA.
Knicks probably bringing back Shamet. IMO I’d rather have Brogdon but he’s probably wanting a lot of money.
Regardless of what Brogdon wants, no team actually can offer him a lot of money and he therefore shouldn’t expect a lot of money. If he thinks he’s going to get something other than a minimum contract or a TPMLE then he’s probably being unrealistic.
Why Landry shamet make no sense tbh. There no minutes for him. Those third string minutes if there’s injuries need to go to Daduit(sorry spelling his name wrong) Ben Simmons if you watched him last year on the clippers is exactly what the Knicks need a guy who can come off the bench, play defense, playmate and grabbed rebounds. He can come in and do that for 10 to 12 minutes a night. When brunson is on the bench then cat can spot up cut to the hole do different things. He’s a great pickup honestly for a minimum contract even a little bit more. At this point you guys are just going off in narratives when he played for the nets and played for the sixers. He Avg 5/4/5 on 54% shooting
I agree with Guskinn. Simmons got publicly blamed for his 76ers losing 3-4 to the Hawks in the playoffs by his coach and the star player. This is despite the fact that the 76ers outscored the Hawks in 6 of the 7 games while he was on the floor (essentially winning the series 6-1 while Simmons was in the game). Yes, I understand he passed up some simple shots and looked scared to shoot and was horrible from the free throw line, but despite all this he still actually made the team better though his playmaking and defence – that’s how good he is in those areas. And BTW, he averaged 9.9 points a game and 9 assists – not bad for someone who apparently is a liability on offence. He hasn’t been the same since, but I do really wonder how any normal person would react to being publicly blamed in front of millions of people by their superiors even though there were many other people who should share the blame, or in my opinion, were more to blame.
And what did Embiid do in the 4th in that entire series? Isn’t Embiid the main man? Embiid has learnt well from guys who came before. Like LeBron James. Everyone else’s fault, zero accountability. Embiid averaged 2 points in 4th quarters and the man had like 8 or 9 turnovers. Embiid crumbles under pressure, never learnt how do deal with a double. He’s pathetic.
Wonder why the Dallas Mavericks will train in Canada this fall? In Vancouver, B.C. Especially when crossing the border is now a little tricky. Anticipating expansion?