{"id":157848,"date":"2025-09-03T19:19:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T23:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=157848"},"modified":"2025-09-03T19:19:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T23:19:27","slug":"knicks-free-agent-target-ben-simmons-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/03\/knicks-free-agent-target-ben-simmons-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Free Agent Target Considering Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

This upcoming season, the New York Knicks should be favored the Eastern Conference representative in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Knicks Free Agent Target Ben Simmons Considering Retirement<\/h2>\n

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum<\/a> is on the mend<\/a>, likely out for the majority of the 2025-26 regular season. Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>\u00a0has gone from being buoyed by Jrue Holiday<\/a>, Khris Middleton<\/a> and Brook Lopez<\/a> to carrying Cole Anthony<\/a>, Kyle Kuzma<\/a> and Myles Turner<\/a>. Philadelphia 76ers stars Joel Embiid<\/a> and Paul George<\/a> are going to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame one day. Right now, they\u2019re just trying to prove they can still play at an elite level.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dec 30, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) and forward Paul George (8) high five during the second half against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the combination of these contenders\u2019 misfortunes and the talent the Knicks star power, there\u2019s no better time to swing for the fences. To many, those words inspire optimistic images of a blockbuster trade. However, that could also mean kicking the tires on a risky free agent.<\/p>\n

For now, it\u2019s the latter in New York\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

Ben Ten-der<\/h3>\n

As the Knicks peruse the clearance aisle, they\u2019re seriously considering tendering a contract offer to 6-foot-10 playmaker Ben Simmons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Simmons, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, has declined significantly since his All-Star start. The issue is layered, with mounting injuries contributing to his mental strain, relatively limited mobility and lack of confidence. The result has been simple.<\/p>\n

A player his former head coach once compared<\/a> to the likes of Magic Johnson<\/a> and LeBron James<\/a> is now on the verge of being out of the league. That\u2019s not being hyperbolic. Less than a decade after being drafted, Simmons is literally considering retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe former All-Star and Rookie of the Year, who has struggled recently with injuries<\/a> and handling the public pressures of the league, is an option for the Knicks because of his upside as an elite defender and athlete to fill their backup point guard spot,\u201d the New York Post\u2019s Stefan Bondy reports. \u201cHowever, Simmons\u2026 is sending a message that he isn\u2019t sure \u2018if he wants to continue\u2019\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

At 29 years old, Simmons averaged 5.0 points, 5.6 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per game last season. If judged against his three All-Star seasons, those stats are hard to look at. To that point, the Aussie posted 16.0 points, 7.6 assists, 8.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 0.7 blocks per game from 2018-19 to 2020-21.<\/p>\n

The Last Word On Ben Simmons<\/h3>\n

Just from a quick glance at his numbers, it\u2019s clear Simmons isn\u2019t impacting the scoreboard like he used to. He isn\u2019t crashing the boards with the same energy. He\u2019s not even generating turnovers with the same proficiency.<\/p>\n

Yet, he\u2019s still a useful player in a vacuum. Indeed, he\u2019s in the Swiss Army Knife mold. Furthermore, though he\u2019s lost a step, he\u2019s a fluid athlete that can play above the rim. If his recent statistical output was compared to a player like Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green<\/a>, he would be much more endearing.<\/p>\n

A four-time NBA champion, Green holds career averages of 8.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 block per game. That\u2019s with him completely healthy. So, sure, Simmons is only a shell of who he used to be. Yet, he could still make a substantial contribution to a title team.<\/p>\n

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

This upcoming season, the New York Knicks should be favored the Eastern Conference representative in the NBA Finals. Knicks Free Agent Target Ben Simmons Considering Retirement Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is on the mend, likely out for the majority of the 2025-26 regular season. Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo\u00a0has gone from being buoyed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":157855,"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":[12,1608,2,25,62,3],"tags":[266,409],"class_list":["post-157848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knicks","category-basketball","category-featured","category-warriors","category-nba","category-news","tag-ben-simmons","tag-draymond-green"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157848","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=157848"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157854,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157848\/revisions\/157854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}