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Ben Simmons is set to join his third NBA team and start a new chapter with the LA Clippers.
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The Nets reportedly agreed to a contract buyout with Simmons on Sunday morning (all times AEDT), ending his disappointing stay in Brooklyn.
The team requested waivers on Simmons, and the Aussie is now an unrestricted free agent. It’s uncertain how much money the Nets saved with the buyout.
While Simmons won’t officially clear waivers until Tuesday, he reportedly intends to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, as first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania.
If Simmons does indeed sign with the Clippers, the former All-Star be playing with the man he was traded for two years ago (James Harden) and would make his Barclays Center return on March 29.
The reception from the Nets crowd may be frosty, but Simmons and his camp were complimentary of the organisation.
“Like all things with Brooklyn during Ben’s time there this was handled with the utmost support and class from (general manager) Sean Marks and staff and ownership,” Simmons’ agent Bernie Lee told the New York Post.
“After the trade deadline passed we had a conversation where we mutually agreed to come up with a solution to give Ben the opportunity to seek out a fresh start for himself. I would just like to take a second to truly thank Sean Marks, the entire coaching staff and ownership for their partnership for the last few seasons and the incredible amount to which they supported Ben every step of the way.”
Injuries – back woes, herniated discs and multiple surgeries – marred his stay in Brooklyn.
Once Harden blindsided the Nets with a trade request in 2023 just days before the trade deadline, Brooklyn sent him to Philadelphia for Simmons.
Simmons missed the rest of that season, and came into this season having played just 57 of the Nets’ 191 games after the trade became official.
Following a second back surgery, Simmons finally began a slow return to at least moderate health this season.
He appeared in 33 of Brooklyn’s 51 games, averaging 6.2 points, 6.9 assists and 5.2 rebounds, serving as the backup point guard first to Dennis Schroder and then to D’Angelo Russell.
Now Simmons could be backing up Harden.
After the buyout, Simmons is free to sign elsewhere. He was linked with the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and Western Conference-contending Houston Rockets, but ESPN reported he intends to join the Clippers.
While the LA Lakers made a big splash at the trade deadline by adding Luka Doncic and Mark Williams, the Clippers have produced a strong season, sitting seventh in the Western Conference at 28-23.
That comes despite Paul George departing as a free agent last off-season and Kawhi Leonard being restricted to just 13 of a possible 51 games due to ongoing injury troubles.
“As we just completed the buyout we now have to take a second and consider what is to come next,” Lee told The New York Post.
As Simmons was set to earn $40.3 million this season, he’s barred from inking with some teams.
Due to a quirk in the CBA, teams that are over the first apron are not permitted to sign a player who is waived and had a pre-existing salary of $12.8 million.
That means that even though Simmons is now an unrestricted free agent, he can’t sign with the defending champion Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, the Knicks or Phoenix Suns.
The buyout will free up a roster spot and also some cap space for Brooklyn, although it’s unclear how much.
Guard Tyrese Martin is on a two-way contract that he has clearly outperformed.
He has never logged a single minute with G League Long Island, and is approaching his game restrictions in the NBA. Brooklyn could conceivably convert him to a standard deal.
-This story was originally published in The New York Post and reproduced with permission.
