JULY 16: The Sixers have officially signed Simmons to his new extension, the team announced today in a press release.
“Ben Simmons is an important piece of our core and he is one of the NBA’s most dynamic and talented young players,” GM Elton Brand said in a statement. “It was a priority for our organization that we finalize a contract extension with Ben this summer. He was Rookie of the Year in his first season, an All-Star in his second and we expect him to continue grow and succeed for seasons to come. Ben positively impacts the game in so many ways and we look forward to continuing our championship pursuits with him as one of our leaders.”
JULY 15: The Sixers and Ben Simmons have reached a deal on a five-year, maximum-salary contract extension, agent Rich Paul tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The agreement had been anticipated after Philadelphia put a max extension offer on the table for Simmons near the start of free agency.
Based on the NBA’s current cap projections for 2020/21, which is when Simmons’ new deal will begin, a five-year, maximum-salary contract will pay him $169.65MM.
The Sixers and Simmons could agree to language that would push that figure as high as $203.58MM in the event that he earns an All-NBA spot next season, but there’s no indication yet that those Rose Rule conditions will be included in the agreement. For what it’s worth, Charania pegs the value of the contract at $170MM.
Simmons, who will turn 23 on Saturday, has established himself as one of the NBA’s most dynamic young play-makers since being selected first overall in the 2016 draft. After missing his rookie season for health reasons, he has averaged 16.4 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 7.9 APG, and 1.6 SPG in 160 regular season contests for Philadelphia over the last two years.
While Simmons is one of the league’s most dangerous creators in transition and can go off for a triple-double on any given night, the Sixers will be looking for him to expand his half-court game and to add a more consistent jump shot to his repertoire going forward.
With a lucrative new deal for Simmons hitting their books in 2020/21, the Sixers will have to take their long-term luxury tax outlook into account when making roster moves. Having made major financial commitments to Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and Al Horford too, Philadelphia already projects to be $6MM+ over the tax line for ’20/21 with only 11 players under contract so far, tweets Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights.
Siegel also observes (via Twitter) that Simmons and Embiid are both now “designated rookies” for the Sixers, having signed five-year extensions before their rookie contracts expired.
An NBA team is permitted to have up to two designated rookies on its roster at a time (including no more than one via trade), so the Sixers wouldn’t be able to add a third until Embiid’s contract expires in 2023, unless they trade away Simmons or Embiid. It’s the same rule that prevented the Celtics from acquiring Anthony Davis last season while they were carrying Kyrie Irving.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Overpay
Particularly since the guy has NO outside shot. None!
Amazing. They are going to miss Reddick big. No one on the team is close to shooting the three like Reddick.
Perhaps Simmons will develope a 10 footer, lol. Can you say, “Bad Contract’?
Correctpay
actually club friendly deal because of where the market will be in year 5. This kid hasnt hit his prime yet and is close to a triple double night in and night out
Agreed
He does need to improve to be worth it. His max contract might raise faster than the cap. Hopefully Sixers are confident about him improving to offer him this deal.
And if he doesn’t improve, he will be worth a bit more than 20 millions per year, right around half of this max.
@coachhim You can say 5 years from now every contract is “team friendly”. You have to base this and every deal on where the market is now. I’m not arguing it’s a bad deal but it’s a bad deal if you feel he’ll only live up to it if he develops an outside shot. In that case you’re paying for potential production and you’re playing ever last dollar possible.
even without the outside shot he’s still worth it.
Mass overpay, he wont be on the same team by thr end of the contract. A big who cant shoot and when gets fouled cant make free throws, unsurprising this is why he put up 1 point games in playoffs.
Games? It was one time.
Make the guy actually prove he can shoot before you give him 170M. Really he’s a poor man’s Westbrook only Westbrook makes up for his horrible shooting with more rebounds and assists. As long as Simmons is the PG Philly/any team he plays for won’t win a title. Can’t win a title if your PG can’t shoot.
I mean, Boston did with rondo.
Almost $34M annually, for a guy who won’t shoot, let alone, make a 3-pointer. Hilarious. What a joke.
That same guy who can’t shoot, won the rookie of the year. That same guy who can’t shoot was an all star last year.
Some joke….
@andymeyer Poor argument. He’s correct in that Simmons is a liability. That being said, Philly had to do what it did. Too hard to get that 2nd top star. I guess they could’ve traded him and signed Butler. Not sure if that would’ve been the best move tho.
Best move was to give him the extension
he should have never been eligible for roy. if you were paid the previous year and looked after by the teams medical staff you are a 2nd year player not a rookie
Andy Meyer, I’m not questioning his overall talent but, you can’t pay someone $34M per if he can’t hit a jumper. Smart playoff teams will expose his (significant) weaknesses. Until he can hit 3’s, the 76’ers won’t win a title.
It’s not 34 annually. It goes up each year of the deal but so will the salary cap most likely
Lot of money for a dude who can’t shoot and also didn’t do squat in the playoffs.
Did you even watch the playoffs?
I definitely watched the playoffs. I’m a lifelong raptors fan. I watched them lose and Simmons not shoot and get shut down.
Wouldn’t say he got shut down. He just wouldn’t shoot. He shot 60% but he only took 8 shots a game. That can’t happen. He more or less because scared to have the ball in his hands.
Embiid will get traded, maybe before this season starts. There’s a GM or owner out there that will buy high on this guy. Looking at you Dolan!
Why on earth would the sixers trade Embiid?
Luxury tax and his value will never be higher. Wake up.
Wizard what will befall him?
Wake up? Why would the sixers sign Harris, horford, and give Ben the max if they cared so much about the luxury tax. You trade Embiid for what? Future picks? Unlikely. So then you trade him for another big time player who probably has a big time salary. No tax savings there. Sixers are a big market squad that can afford the tax. Wake up…this guy.
And then stupids talks about Wiggins….
There isn’t a single team in the NBA which, if given the chance to have this player under this contract wouldn’t jump at the opportunity. In fact, most teams would pay over prime assets for it. So, not only isn’t it an overpay (to market) it would be more in the open market without a salary cap.
I do think the guy is miscast as a point guard, but that’s an organizational issue (or, with him signed, at least it is now).
But this isn’t a market where a salary ca doesn’t exist. So on the current market, it’s an overpay. You’re right, some dumb teams would pay for him and then regret it when he still can’t shoot.
They’re banking on potential he hasn’t shown.
All employment contracts are priced on potential, or at least the prospective. Past performance may be taken into account, but only as it relates to the potential performance going forward.
Salary cap or not, IF it’s an overpay, then the contract would be untradeable absent Philly compensating the acquiring team to take him. You believe that-? You couldn’t be more wrong, if you do.
@DXC What many are saying is that he would be worth that contract IF he developed an outside shot. That’s not an argument to ignore.
I don’t disagree that his BB value so far in his career would have been infinitely greater if he could shoot. I think if Philly would dispense with the notion that he’s a guard, his BB value would be significantly greater even without an outside shot, and it would help in the development of it. There are also other elements of this game I don’t like, including a lack of discipline (he and Embid both).
But I don’t think any of that has anything to do with whether this is an overpay. If he were a UFA this year, teams would have competed to pay him his max. The guy he is right now. Is it based on the future projections, of course, but so is every other contract. Risky, sure. Overpay, no (because it’s a risk that 30 teams would love to assume).
I don’t want him on my team for that money, he’s a punk and he literally doesn’t shoot the basketball.
OK, but the FO of your NBA team would want him even for that money if it could be arranged. As I said above, if you believe it’s an overpay, then you must believe it can’t be traded for net positive value.
I’m not saying he won’t ever be able to shoot but he essentially is too scared to. His average shot distance is less than 5 feet.
He has to get better at that or start bulking up. He can’t continue to rely on layups. This is a guy who went 62% from the field in 12 games in the playoffs. Wouldn’t it be worth it to shoot 50% and extend the range a little?
You can’t let him walk away. But you have to wonder how worth it he will be to them now that all of their money is tied to four players.
“This is a guy who went 62% from the field in 12 games in the playoffs.”
70% of those shots were layups/dunks within 3′ of the basket.
“Wouldn’t it be worth it to shoot 50% and extend the range a little?”
He would have to extend it a lot, as he has no jump shot. He would need to extend it all the way out to the three point line, as a long two is the same as a layup.
I love all the haters. Literally the only knock on this guy is jump shot. He was ROY in year 1 and an all star in year 2. He is #16 in the league last year in VORP…but yea, he is an overpay. Giannis and Lebron are similar in stature and neither were shooting at a good level in year 2. You can argue that Giannis still doesn’t have deep range. No one questions him as MVP, but the sixers won’t win because Ben can’t shoot. Why do so many fans hate this guy. Get used to seeing him not take jumpers deep into the playoffs, Haters!
You can’t say people are haters for criticizing him for not being able to do one of the most fundamental things on a court: shoot.
And please don’t compare him to Giannis or Lebron. Giannis took longer to develop but could actually shoot. Lebron had/has a completely different offensive skill set and can utilize the entire offensive court. Simmons takes 90%+ of his shots from within ten feet of the basket.
@rct: they are absolutely haters. The dude is an all star, plain and simple. He is an elite nba talent that any team would love to have. His all around skills make him a valuable on court asset, not opinion but fact based on metrics. Maybe he should shoot more, but this team was in the hunt for a title. It’s not the time to practice a shot when you are in the playoff hunt. Giannis and Lebron could afford to take shots because their teams were lottery bound.
@kyle: see above with lebron and Giannis shooting. Ben has legitimately only attempted a handful of 3s, the majority of his 0-23 are end of quarter Hail Mary shots. Simmons is on the court to end games because he can defend, provides mismatches, and everything else there is to do on the court besides shoot…so I don’t know where this “he can’t play the final two minutes” noise comes from. His FT actually improved quite a bit as the season progressed last year, but I wouldn’t expect most to notice that. Still plenty of work to be done but he closed strong. I will spout about his playoffs all day. This team is a title contender, and without Simmons they would be less so. Last point, you do realize that there are a plethora of teams paying the tax every year, right? The thunder have been paying the tax for years, so have the Warriors, heat, and rockets. If OKC can pay the tax year after year then Philadelphia will be just fine
2nd year player of the year
You are sooo right! Can’t get how anyone can hate on big Ben… The guy is unbelievable, my favorite PG in the league!
So LeBron was taking 200+ 3 pointers in his rookie year. Year 2 he took 300+. He was 35% his second year. Simmons is 0-23 in two years. His average shot distance is less than 5 feet from the basket. He is afraid to take the shots.
Giannis still isn’t a talented 3 point shooter but he poses that threat to the opposition because he isn’t scared to shoot.
Simmons can average close to a triple double all he wants but when you have four max players and one simply cannot play the last 2 minutes and has shown no improvement in his shot, you can’t sit there and say he’ll get better.
And if you’re going to sit there and spout him being in the playoffs, remember that he only took 8 shots a game. He was scared to shoot. His numbers dipped because he can’t shoot. They really only have a year or two window before one of them has to go. No owner is paying luxury tax year after year.
Lakers… eventually.
Has a perimeter player who, not only cant shoot – but wont shoot – ever been signed to a contract this big? Good for him tho!
170 million reasons to shoot with the other hand.
Big Ben is worth every penny of this contract, next year he will be an all-NBA, book it now and cash it next summer!
He has been practicing his shot it looks fluid to me. I think he will become a better than average shooter. He will be more aggressive without Butler. He will need to be for them to win. Harris is good but is he a closer good?
So you don’t max him? Then he accepts a QO and leaves as a UFA. Process destroyed. You peeps r clowns. Like seriously the basketball knowledge is going down on this chat board it’s more Yahoo sports. Simmons creeps towards averaging a Triple Double and yr like “trash”. Jumper or no Jumper, still filling the stat sheet. If he only improves his FTs I’d take that, bc you can then leave him in the game for his defense at the end of games. 75% all I’m asking for. People leave Draymond wide open too. Ben will eventually shoot and it will be wide open everytime so if he hits 30% I’d still take that. He comes back with some more post game forcing switches and matchup problems, Horford and Tobias can switch and pop a jumper alllllllllllllllll dayyyyyy long. You leave a midget guard on Simmons and hell own them. Switch them and ur burned.
When it matters, he isn’t filling the stat sheet. Because he isn’t facing the dregs of the NBA. This is why it’s an issue. He isn’t hitting FTs and won’t attempt a deep shot. That limits him severely when playing top competition. The difference is Draymond will shoot that. Simmons won’t.
And switching doesn’t really matter when you can cover 3 guys with 2. Harris isn’t a consistent 3 point shooter. Horford isn’t either. So it’s going to continue to bog down the lane for him.
Sure, he’ll be able to do as he pleases during the regular season. But until he shows he can shoot, he will continue to falter when it matters.
Tobias is 47 FG% and 40.5 3P% over last 2 years….
Horford is 49.8 FG% and 38.2 3P% last 3 years. So okay. 54.7 2P% aka the 15-18 ft jumper which is what I was referring to on switches.
Does everyone get a max deal now?
NBA – never broke again! Brand is smarter than this. Don’t worry…6ers fans will get their money worth with brick Simmons.
Bad shooting limits the situations he can be effective in. But also bad is his floor generalship. Furthermore I suspect he is influencing the Sixers into NOT bringing in anyone like Oconnell who has that ability– or in keeping Oconnell or even Butler, or anyone who could replace him in the lineup. This hurts the team.
If he’s not making selfish-star demands to the FO, then Brand is overconfident, relying on Raul Neto as backup.
The Sixers club theme is skipping steps so I guess Simmons is a fit.
Giving Simmons the max is a no-brainer.If he develops a shot,he goes from exciting player to MvP candidate.Even just a mid range shot.If he don’t,he still has the size and athleticism to play any position.Close to a triple double with a steal and a half a game,in his 2nd season.And ya already know with everyone signing jazz about his shooting,he’s definitely working on his shot this offseason.
you mean his third season
2nd season of playing in actual NBA games,same year he would’ve been a senior in college.