It’s hard to believe that Ben Simmons only just turned 30 years old this summer.
Once an All-NBA player at 23, things sharply and drastically changed for Simmons, who was out of the league entirely last season and hasn’t played relevant basketball in years. However, after taking time to heal physically, Simmons is attempting a comeback, beginning by taking part in a mini-camp for the Australia men’s basketball team this week in Melbourne.
According to Marc Spears of ESPN, Simmons has already drawn interest from teams, including one Western Conference team that has offered him a training camp invite.
Several NBA teams have expressed interest in Simmons, who is open to signing a minimum contract, according to sources. One source said he has a non-guaranteed offer on the table for minicamp with a Western Conference team.
Trying to figure out who that Western Conference team is feels like a fool’s errand. A training camp invite is the lowest-risk offer a team can hand out, so anyone could have given it out.
Does that include the Lakers? Well, perhaps in NBA 2K, it makes sense. The team has a hole at power forward and Simmons, as a once-elite defender, would fill that need. But this isn’t a video game and there’s a lot more going on here.
That being said, there is a notable connection between head coach JJ Redick and Simmons. At Simmons’ best, Redick was playing alongside him in Philadelphia. The two had some of the finest moments of their careers alongside each other.
Throughout their time with the Sixers, Redick was an ardent defender of Simmons, who faced plenty of scrutiny. In 2022, Simmons appeared on Redick’s podcast, “The Old Man & the Three,” in a pretty open interview about lots of things regarding his time with the Sixers.
Having said all that, there are obvious complications here. As much as Redick and Simmons might have a relationship, that doesn’t make the latter a good basketball player anymore. Simmons became more and more a shell of his best self as his career wound down in Brooklyn and then with the Clippers.
There are also plenty of fit concerns. Simmons is a ball-dominant player who can’t shoot. That’s hardly a seamless fit next to Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić.
On top of that, the Lakers don’t even have a roster spot available. A training camp invite can still be extended but if things go well and Simmons actually looks good, the Lakers have one too many guaranteed contracts. They not only have to trim down contracts to have a legal roster, but also get rid of another just to sign Simmons. It’d be a lot of loopholes to jump through for someone who didn’t even play last season.
Even if it’s a buy-low opportunity for the Lakers, it doesn’t seem like one that’d make sense.
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