Reject the basic salary! How much oil is left for Simmons now?

As we all know, the free market has been open for more than two months, and each team will start training camp in less than a month. At this time point, in addition to several restricted free agents (Gidy, Kumingga, etc.) who are still fighting with the parent team, it is thankful that other free agents can get a basic salary and stay in the NBA.

However, there is such a player, 29 years old, at the peak of his age, the No. 1 pick, and there is still some oil in the fuel tank. When a championship team sent a basic salary to him, he chose to refuse, just because he felt that he was not just the basic salary.

Yes, it's about Simmons.

From the latest report by famous reporter Marc Stein, sources revealed that the Knicks offered Simmons a one-year contract, but the former All-Star player rejected the Knicks. With training camp approaching, the Knicks can only provide a base salary, and Simmons hopes to get a contract above the base salary this summer.

It should be said that this is not the first time that "Simmons wants to be higher than the base salary". As early as mid-July, less than two weeks after the free market opened, the Clippers Law Murray reported that Simmons wanted a contract with higher than the base salary, but no team was willing to provide it. The news after

has become a little weird:

A week ago, American journalist Stefan Bondy reported that Simmons is not sure whether he wants to continue playing basketball. He has aroused the interest of the Knicks and another team, but he is also questioning whether he wants to continue playing in the NBA.

Almost at the same time, Marc Stein reported that Ben Simmons' agent Bernie Lee had terminated his contract with him and no longer represented Simmons. This news made "Simmons wants to retire" more realistic.

So the question is, what is Simmons' level now?

Take last season for example, Simmons played for the Nets and the Clippers respectively. His performance:

- During the Nets, he averaged 25.0 minutes per game, scored 6.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists, with a shooting percentage of 54.7%

- During the Clippers, he averaged 16.4 minutes per game, scored 2.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists, with a shooting percentage of 43.4%

Among them, in the playoffs, in the series between the Clippers and the Nuggets, Simmons played only 5 games in total, averaging 8 minutes per game, scoring 0.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists, and a shooting percentage of 33.3%.

Simmons should still remember that he was really amazing when he debuted at the time. Although he did not shoot, he was 2.08 meters tall and was not inferior to the defender. He could control the ball, break through, and pass the ball like a defender, and fight like an inside. He was definitely worthy of the No. 1 pick in terms of talent, and was once regarded as the next James.

The fact is that from returning from injury in 2017 to 2021, in the first five seasons of his career, Simmons was selected for three teams of the All-Star team, three All-Star teams, two All-Defensive teams, and two All-Defensive teams. He was also selected as the Best Rookie, one steal king, and DPOY second.

Until this time, the future of Simmons is still bright. It is generally believed that as long as Simmons practices shooting, he may become the next top ten in the league.

But the subsequent development was disappointing. Due to the impact of serious back injuries, Simmons not only had a serious decline in ability, but his original small hook disappeared directly, and even his attendance rate could not be guaranteed. From the 2021-24 season, he was reimbursed for three consecutive years, and only played 57 games in total.

Of course, the "controversial pass" incident in the 2021 playoff tiebreak also had a significant impact on Simmons, but I personally think that the most important thing is the back injury, and Simmons' mentality - is he a positive and progressive player? Judging from the fact that you can't make any shots or even unwilling to shoot a mid-range or three-pointer, the answer is very likely to be no.

Simmons is now a completely useless person on the offensive end, and his useless person is not an ordinary useless person, no three-pointers, no mid-range, no breakthrough, and even the free throws that were fouled after grabbing rebounds are very unreliable. His free throw shooting percentage is only 59.2%, and the lowest first season is only 40%, which is not as high as some players' three-point shooting percentage.

Of course, Simmons still has some advantages. After all, he is a tall point guard and can control the ball and defend. This is also one of the reasons why the Knicks and other teams look at him - after all, he is only 29 years old. As long as he is healthy, Simmons is more than enough to play 15 minutes in the regular season. Don't expect too much from him, he can really bring you some surprises.

At this point, I still feel sorry for Simmons.

We will remember that Simmons led the team to win 13 consecutive games in the absence of Embiid. At that time, he was only 21 years old and had such excellent static and dynamic talents. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the future face of the league.

In fact, Simmons is definitely not the top pick in the past four years of his career. Many of his achievements in the first four years of his career will never be able to catch up with the first four years of his career, but no one expected that his glory would stop in 2021.

The future? It is definitely impossible to be higher than the basic salary, but it is really possible to retire. After all, Simmons has received a maximum salary, and his total salary in his career exceeds 200 million. If he really wants to retire, it further confirms that Simmons lacks motivation and many people can't fight. He gives up but gives up when he has the chance. It's a waste.