Ben Simmons will sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, according to Chris Haynes. This report comes just hours after the Brooklyn Nets announced that they had agreed to a contract buyout with Simmons, ending his disappointing tenure with the team.
In prior years, Simmons would have been able to sign with any team on the buyout market, but his options this season were somewhat limited due to his original $40 million contract.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement rules, teams that are above the first or second apron of the luxury tax are prohibited from signing a player on waivers whose original salary was more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($12,822,000). Those teams are the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns.
Simmons’s last few years have been tumultuous. In February 2022, he was traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Nets. Due to an array of injuries, mainly to his back, he played just 90 games with the Nets. A herniated disc cost him the end of the 2021-22 campaign, while nerve issues ended his 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns.
Simmons underwent a microscopic partial discectomy last March to try and alleviate his back pain and has been healthier this season. He appeared in 33 of a possible 52 games, averaging 6.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists, while shooting 54.7% from the field.
“I know that not playing for a season and then limited games another season and now fighting his way back, playing I think it was a little over 20 minutes or mid-20s,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said on Friday. “So that’s pretty good. Really good to see that after going through a surgery, now being back playing basketball.”
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While this version of Simmons is a far cry from the one we saw early in his career when he was a perennial All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year candidate, he’s still capable of being a solid role player. It’s not surprising that a number of teams were eager to sign him once his $40 million contract was no longer part of the equation.
Simmons remains a high-level playmaker and versatile defender who can hold his own in the paint and on the perimeter. His game should fit right in on a Clippers team that has been one of the league’s stingiest defenses under coach Ty Lue. Entering Saturday’s slate, they ranked second in defensive rating at 108.3.
At 28-23, the Clippers sit in seventh place in the competitive Western Conference. They are at once three games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for fifth place and three games ahead of the 11th-place Golden State Warriors. A strong close to the season could see them earn an automatic playoff berth, but a poor run of form could just as easily put them in jeopardy of missing out on the Play-In Tournament.
