{"id":129001,"date":"2025-03-16T18:06:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T22:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=129001"},"modified":"2025-03-16T18:06:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-16T22:06:41","slug":"clippers-ben-simmons-soft-commitment-la-olympics-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/16\/clippers-ben-simmons-soft-commitment-la-olympics-2028\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers Point Guard Makes Soft LA Olympics Commitment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Clippers point guard Ben Simmons<\/a> is hoping to stay in sunny California at least a little longer. That\u2019s not just with regard to playing for the Clippers, who signed him shortly after he reached a contract buyout agreement<\/a> with the Brooklyn Nets. He\u2019s also eyeing the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will be hosted by Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

“That’s what I’ve always wanted \u2014 to play in the Olympics,” Simmons tells RG\u2019s Grant Afseth. “If I’m healthy and I’m good to go, then I’ll definitely be there<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

If Simmons does suit up for the LA Olympics, expect the Melbourne native to play for Australia. Indeed, the seven-year NBA veteran even spoke about his relationship with Washington Wizards assistant Adam Caporn, who was recently named the Boomers head coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“He’s a great coach and a great person,\u201d Simmons relays. \u201cI’m looking forward to talking to him and getting connected \u2014 continue to build our relationship going into the next Olympics.”<\/p>\n

Clippers\u2019 Ben Simmons Makes Soft LA Olympics Commitment<\/h2>\n

Simmons has expressed his desire to play for the Australian men\u2019s national team multiple times this season<\/a>. This could be because he\u2019s become that much more aware of his basketball mortality and wants to scratch an Olympic appearance off his bucket list. After all, Simmons has turned down the chance to play in the Olympic Games a couple of times already.<\/p>\n

When he first declined, he was preparing<\/a> for the 2016 NBA Draft. In 2021, he was coming off of a career-altering playoff run that made him want to refine his game<\/a>. Last year, he committed to the Boomers for the Paris Olympics but wasn\u2019t healthy enough to play<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a vacuum, each of Simmons\u2019s denials were understandable, even if somewhat off-putting. Perhaps that\u2019s why Australia has continued to express interest in him joining the team. He\u2019s not necessarily an oath-breaker, the timing just wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n

In 2028, he and his home country\u2019s clocks might be more synchronized.<\/p>\n

What He Can Bring Boomers<\/h3>\n

As Simmons is no longer dominating like he was in his All-Star years, he likely won\u2019t look much better three years from now. He\u2019s only 28 years old, but back injuries have a way of making players age quicker.<\/p>\n

With that being said, Simmons will always be a high IQ playmaker. He\u2019ll still have excellent court vision and passing ability. He\u2019ll still be 6-foot-10. He might even continue to be capable of guarding 1-5.<\/p>\n

Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey<\/a>, Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels<\/a>, and Dallas Mavericks guard Dante Exum<\/a> all have similar traits. Yet, Simmons is still a one-of-one among that group. Giddey\u2019s defense doesn\u2019t measure up. Exum and Daniels\u2019s passing instincts aren\u2019t as pronounced.<\/p>\n

None of them have Simmons\u2019s size, nor have they been as successful.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Clippers point guard Ben Simmons is hoping to stay in sunny California at least a little longer. That\u2019s not just with regard to playing for the Clippers, who signed him shortly after he reached a contract buyout agreement with the Brooklyn Nets. He\u2019s also eyeing the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will be hosted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":129028,"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":[60,4,1608,8,30,27,62],"tags":[266,1052],"class_list":["post-129001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-mavericks","category-clippers","category-nba","tag-ben-simmons","tag-olympics"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129001","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=129001"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129030,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129001\/revisions\/129030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}