Looking back at Ben Simmons tenure, forward for Brooklyn Nets as buyout complete

The news came down on Saturday afternoon, making official the ending of Ben Simmons career in Brooklyn.

The Ben Simmons Era in Brooklyn is officially over, and the ending was fittingly dull.

On Saturday afternoon, ESPN’s Shams Charania — who had previously reported Simmons and the Nets were working on a buyout agreement — reported that the two sides had indeed reached a deal, and Simmons was to become a Los Angeles Clipper…

NetsDaily reports that the sides agreed to a standard buyout deal. That is, Brooklyn will pay Simmons what he was owed for the rest of the season, minus the veteran minimum pro-rated to this point in the season. Simmons, of course, will make that back upon signing with the Clippers.

What’s Next for Brooklyn

The buyout of Ben Simmons creates an open roster spot for the Nets, who prior to the deal, were just under $700,000 away from the luxury tax, specifically $677,263. All sources indicate they will not be a tax team this season — and why the hell would they be? — but now, they do have space to add a vet minimum contract.

There are some obvious candidates, such as Tyrese Martin, currently on a two-way contract for Brooklyn but also currently a rotation staple. A potential conversion to a standard contract for Martin may not just be a reward; but a necessity. He’s appeared in 34 games for Brooklyn this season, active for 48, and NBA rules state that two-way players can only be active for 50.

Tosan Evbuomwan is a similar option, though his two-way contract runs through the end of 2026, not 2025.

Killian Hayes, remember, is also down in the G League, and putting up some serious numbers…

Over his last five games, the Frenchman is averaging 24/4/10 with three steals a night, and is absolutely on fire from the floor (58/52/88).

There are also external options after a busy trade deadline, such as young guards Bones Hyland and Jalen Hood-Schifino, who were both waived after their being traded. (If Martin is elevated to a standard deal, that will leave a two-way slot open. Two-ways can be signed through March 4.

Then, there’s possibility that the Nets could create two roster spots, however slim it may be. Bojan Bogdanović and De’Anthony Melton remain on the roster, and are technically potential buyout candidates.

With Melton’s torn ACL, however, he has no chance have playing for another team this season, and likely won’t be willing to give any money up. As for Bogdanović, he was not expected to be out for the season, but the Nets have still not given an update saying he can even go through full-contact court-work yet.

The buyout deadline (AKA the playoff eligibility waiver deadline) is March 1.

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Ben Simmons was a Brooklyn Net for nearly three times as long as James Harden. That doesn’t feel right.

Perhaps because Simmons’ arrival in the borough marked the end of Brooklyn’s title hopes with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. It’s certainly easy to say that in retrospect, but it almost always felt true during his tenure.

There were brief, shining moments of hope that I’m sure many Nets fans have forgotten. It seems utterly unreal that from November 15th to November 25th of 2022, there was a six-game stretch in which Simmons averaged 15.5/6.8/5.8/2.5(blk+stl), scoring over 20 points twice and playing over 32 minutes in all but one of those games.

This really happened!

In his next game, a Nov 27 win, Simmons put up 2/12/8/3, but played 34 minutes and generally looked spry.

He then played 11 minutes the very next night against the Orlando Magic before exiting prematurely with knee soreness, which was then revealed to be connected to his back issues. Ben10 never showed such signs of life again, and would later miss the final 38 games of that season, including the playoffs.

It was often tough to give Simmons grace. Not only did he represent fallen championship hopes, but he occasionally looked like one of the NBA’s very worst players, though he was working his way back from debilitating injuries.

For much of this season, he wasn’t quite that awful, and his ability to move the rock and occasionally hit those righty hook shots truly did help this bad Brooklyn team.

On Friday, Cam Johnson called him a “great teammate. When he’s on the court, he’s a different kind of player than a lot of teams have, and that kind of requires him to be guarded different. Very unselfish.”

Keon Johnson, Ben’s occasional fishing pal, agreed: “I love playing on and off the court with him. Great guy off the court. He just brings so many different — just being versatile on the court, bringing a lot of different things we can do defensively, scheme-wise and also on the offensive end as well.”

By all accounts, Simmons and his agent Bernie Lee enjoyed their time in Brooklyn. The Nets did everything possible to aid in his recovery processes, and generally proffered a much friendlier vibe than the Philadelphia 76ers (low bar).

Perhaps that will earn them some good will with marquee names going forward, perhaps it was simply the right thing to do. Probably both, like this buyout.

Ben Simmons is no longer a Brooklyn Net. For three whole years, I can’t believe he was.