Insider: Ben Simmons Turned Down Contract Offer From Contender
Some pundits and followers around the NBA just want Ben Simmons to retire already. And he may be running out of options to find a team.
According to insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line, Simmons turned down a minimum salary offer ($3.2 million) from the New York Knicks. He was trying to hold out for something more. The Knicks, however, weren't biting, due to luxury tax considerations, per Stein.
The Knicks, league sources said, indeed offered a one-year contract to Ben Simmons that the former All-Star passed on. New York is limited to minimum contract offers as training camps draw near and Simmons entered the summer hopeful of securing a contract above the minimum after he split last season between the Nets and Clippers.
Stein also went on to note that the Boston Celtics had shown some interest in Simmons, but they, too, could only offer the minimum, for the same reasons.
The former three-time All-Star, whose stock has fallen precipitously over the last few seasons, will be left on his own to make any contract decisions from here on out, as his agent Bernie Lee recently notified the players association that he has formally removed himself as Simmons' agent.
But at this point, any decision that Simmons has to make is quite simple: Take a veteran's minimum, or nothing. There have been plenty of reports that he has been considering retirement anyway.
Simmons, after three consecutive seasons early in his career as an All-Star, sat out the entire 2021-22 season in a holdout from his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, and then a back injury after he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets.
Injuries and a complete disinterest in competing have sent his career into a tailspin. And here we are, with the former first overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draf left with not many options (or desire) to continue his career.
Who would have thought that this is how Ben Simmons' career would end a few years ago?
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) September 4, 2025
Danb pic.twitter.com/AltKQrCQRt
He split last season between the Nets and the LA Clippers, and in 18 games in LA, he averaged 2.9 points in 18 minutes per game.
