{"id":122640,"date":"2025-02-08T12:38:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T17:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=122640"},"modified":"2025-02-08T12:41:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T17:41:07","slug":"ben-simmons-agrees-nets-buyout-signs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/08\/ben-simmons-agrees-nets-buyout-signs\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Simmons Officially Agrees To Nets Buyout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Shortly after the NBA Trade Deadline, Brooklyn Nets and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simmobe01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Simmons<\/a> reportedly began <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/06\/nets-ben-simmons-working-contract-buyout-agreement\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">working towards a<\/a> contract buyout agreement. On Saturday, the Nets and Simmons <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1888279623001321641\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">officially completed the buyout<\/a>, per ESPN senior insider Shams Charania. The three-time All-Star is now a free agent.<\/p>\n<h2>Ben Simmons Officially Agrees To Nets Buyout<\/h2>\n<p>On Friday, The Stein Line insider Marc Stein reported that Simmons would wait to formalize his buyout agreement when he received a commitment from his new team. Though there may have been other potential suitors, NBA insider Chris Haynes relays that there was mutual interest between him and three playoff teams: the Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">League sources say that Ben Simmons will formally complete a buyout with the Nets once he secures a commitment from his new team.<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisBHaynes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ChrisBHaynes<\/a> reports that Simmons will have discussions today the Cavaliers, Clippers and Rockets.<\/p>\n<p>More NBA from me: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IIIlAloJCf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/IIIlAloJCf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSteinLine\/status\/1887887319425786302?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 7, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>He met with all three franchises yesterday.<\/p>\n<h3>Back In The Playoffs<\/h3>\n<p>Simmons will likely get to play for a playoff team for the first time since he was with the Philadelphia 76ers. It&#8217;s worth noting that in the 2021 NBA Playoffs, the last time he appeared in the postseason, a single late game blunder ended up <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/25\/doc-rivers-wrong-jimmy-butler-ben-simmons-parallel\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">causing his entire career to spiral<\/a>. Looking to escape a situation that was bad for his mental health, he requested a trade. It was just his luck that, by that time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hardeja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a> had grown disenchanted by Brooklyn&#8217;s roster.<\/p>\n<p>Landing on a rebuilding team likely wasn&#8217;t his expectation when he first landed with the Nets though. After all, they still had All-Star scorers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/irvinky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyrie Irving<\/a> on the roster. However, largely due to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/03\/25\/kyrie-irving-thankful-after-nyc-covid-vaccine-mandate-ends\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">complications from the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>, Brooklyn decided to trade Irving and then Durant.<\/p>\n<p>Irving now plays for the Dallas Mavericks, who reached the 2024 NBA Finals with he and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a> as co-stars. Durant joined the Phoenix Suns, who traded for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bealbr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bradley Beal<\/a> in hopes of creating a Big 3. Thus, Simmons will be their latest star to leave them for a more competitive squad.<\/p>\n<h3>What Role Will He Play?<\/h3>\n<p>On his next team, Simmons will likely play a multi-faceted role, as has become the norm for him since sustaining myriad back injuries.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sPOZTvcQM5M?si=_fLd2pK9TIXIByYb\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s no longer a blur with the ball but he&#8217;s still a fluid and athletic ball-handler with exceptional court vision, passing ability, and instincts. He&#8217;s also worked on his scoring inside the free-throw line, showing off an intriguing mix of hooks and jumpers. Simmons is still reluctant to shoot a three but he&#8217;s a much more viable option on offense than he was just a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>At the defensive end is where he could really make his mark, especially for this team. Long-limbed and surprisingly physical, Simmons is an event creator whose basketball IQ and anticipation allow him to make game-changing plays. On any given night, he could guard players 1-5.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Soobum Im-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shortly after the NBA Trade Deadline, Brooklyn Nets and Ben Simmons reportedly began working towards a contract buyout agreement. On Saturday, the Nets and Simmons officially completed the buyout, per ESPN senior insider Shams Charania. The three-time All-Star is now a free agent. Ben Simmons Officially Agrees To Nets Buyout On Friday, The Stein Line [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":122642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,6,2],"tags":[266,444,69,406,4975,297,596],"class_list":["post-122640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-nets","category-featured","tag-ben-simmons","tag-james-harden","tag-kevin-durant","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-nba-contracts","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-playoffs"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122818,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122640\/revisions\/122818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}