According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Ben Simmons has agreed to a five-year extension worth $170 million with the Philadelphia 76ers. Charania was informed by Simmons’ agent Rich Paul. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first broke the news of the team’s intent to offer Simmons an extension earlier this month. Ben Simmons averaged 16.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 7.7 assists on 56.3 percent from the field last year for the 76ers.
Ben Simmons Inks Five-Year Extension with Philadelphia 76ers
The move establishes the 76ers as having one of the highest payrolls in the entire league. The combined 2021-22 salaries of only Simmons, Joel Embiid, Al Horford, and Tobias Harris will take up $126.17 million in cap space. That figure alone is higher than this year’s soft cap ($109 million) and next year’s salary cap projection ($118 million). Philadelphia’s giant contracts have locked in this core for at least the next four years.
Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons has agreed to a five-year, $170 million maximum contract extension, agent Rich Paul tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 15, 2019
Simmons is currently 22 years old. He burst onto the scene in the 2017-18 season after sitting out his entire rookie year due to injury. He didn’t play a minute in his inaugural season, so that qualified him for the Rookie of the Year race. Simmons ended up beating out Donovan Mitchell to cap off the most interesting Rookie of the Year races anyone had seen in the last decade. He put up averages of 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 8.2 assists, and 1.7 steals while leading the 76ers on a shocking run to the third seed in the Eastern Conference.
Since his incredible rookie year, Simmons has stagnated a bit. The cries for him to adopt a reliable jump shot have only grown louder. He’s an incredible player in transition opportunities and when faced up against a weak interior defense. But during the playoffs, those opportunities dwindled. Opposing defenses packed the paint and sagged off of him knowing that he won’t give them a reason to go out to the perimeter and defend. Recent reports have revealed that Simmons is indeed using the off-season to work on his jumper. The NBA world will soon find out the fruits of his labor.
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