{"id":122834,"date":"2025-02-08T14:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T19:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=122834"},"modified":"2025-02-08T14:31:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T19:31:42","slug":"ben-simmons-intends-sign-la-clippers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/08\/ben-simmons-intends-sign-la-clippers\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 1 Pick &#8216;Intends To Sign&#8217; With Clippers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just an hour after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/08\/ben-simmons-agrees-nets-buyout-signs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">completing a contract buyout agreement<\/a> with the Brooklyn Nets, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simmobe01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Simmons<\/a> has agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, per ESPN senior insider Shams Charania. Simmons, a three-time All-Star, was the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. In 2024-25, he&#8217;s averaging 6.2 points, 6.9 assists, 5.2 rebounds, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game.<\/p>\n<h2>Ben Simmons &#8216;Intends To Sign&#8217; With LA Clippers<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s unclear what Simmons&#8217;s exact role will be with the Clippers.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Just In: Three-time NBA All-Star Ben Simmons intends to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers after clearing waivers, league sources tell ESPN. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D37Tzmik46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/D37Tzmik46<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1888294238074593528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, given the presence of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hardeja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a>, he&#8217;s unlikely to start. To that point, Simmons has started in 24 of the 33 games he&#8217;s played this season. In fact, he started in 69 of the 90 games that he played for the Nets.<\/p>\n<p>Much could depend on how Los Angeles wants to use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jonesde02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derrick Jones Jr.<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dunnkr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kris Dunn<\/a>. Particularly as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonaka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a> has returned from injury. Dunn, a defensive stud, has started in 29 games for the Clippers this season. However, he&#8217;s been unable to find his touch, shooting 29.3 percent from three-point range. For comparison&#8217;s sake, Jones is shooting 36.7 percent from three. Thus, the nine-year veteran could be best suited as Harden&#8217;s primary backup, L.A. relying more on his playmaking than off-ball scoring.<\/p>\n<p>If so, Simmons could find himself playing a more dynamic role that sees him in multiple positions. As it&#8217;s the way that he&#8217;s been utilized over the past two seasons, it might be what&#8217;s best for him anyways. As long as he&#8217;s able to affect the game with his length, basketball IQ, passing and defense, it doesn&#8217;t matter whether he&#8217;s called a point guard or a center.<\/p>\n<h3>Why The Clippers?<\/h3>\n<p>There are likely several reasons that Simmons decided to sign with the Clippers.<\/p>\n<p>Just as with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, who Simmons also reportedly met with, they&#8217;re a playoff contender. Though his infamous under-the-basket playoff decision precipitated the decline of his mental health, Simmons clearly believes he&#8217;s ready for redemption. He won&#8217;t be playing the way that people want, which usually involves discussions about him taking (and making) three-pointers. However, with Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez&#8217;s prodding, he&#8217;s become <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/14\/nets-assessing-ben-simmons-trade-free-agency-value\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">more aggressive as a scorer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Another factor to consider is Leonard&#8217;s health. On the one hand, the fact that Leonard has yet to be completely healthy could cause concern for an injury-prone player like Simmons. Yet, reports that Leonard was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/23366667\/inside-tension-kawhi-leonard-spurs\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">suffering from a degenerative leg injury<\/a> began all the way back in 2018. If so, the Clippers might have actually extended Leonard&#8217;s career. Perhaps they could do the same for Simmons. Even if not, L.A.&#8217;s willingness to diligently and patiently work with Leonard so that his can maximize his short- and long-term future has to be appealing to the Melbourne native.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that a postseason contender with a supportive medical staff is located in Los Angeles? Well, that&#8217;s even better. The ambiance and attractions are appealing to many people, especially the ultra-rich and famous.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, playing in a large market &#8211;now just a playoff team &#8211;could help him <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/05\/lonzo-ball-contract-extension-ben-simmons-goal\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">earn his next contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-image-setImageMetadata\">\n<p class=\"ng-binding\">\u00a9 Eric Hartline-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just an hour after completing a contract buyout agreement with the Brooklyn Nets, Ben Simmons has agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, per ESPN senior insider Shams Charania. Simmons, a three-time All-Star, was the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. In 2024-25, he&#8217;s averaging 6.2 points, 6.9 assists, 5.2 rebounds, 0.8 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":122841,"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":[27,1608,6,62,3],"tags":[266,749,444,458,4975,297],"class_list":["post-122834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clippers","category-basketball","category-nets","category-nba","category-news","tag-ben-simmons","tag-derrick-jones-jr","tag-james-harden","tag-kris-dunn","tag-nba-contracts","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122834","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=122834"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122848,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122834\/revisions\/122848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}