Things are not good after leaving the Clippers! The Knicks are interested in Simmons but are likely not to sign him?

According to SNY reporter Ian Begley, local media in New York, although the New York Knicks and Ben Simmons have an interest in each other, the 29-year-old backcourt player may still find it difficult to join the Knicks in the end.

In Begley's view, despite their mutual interest, Simmons is more likely to join other teams than the Knicks. The Knicks were hard-hit by the second rich line, and their current total salary is very close to the second rich line. Without trading, they can only sign another player with the veteran's basic salary contract. Begley believes that the Knicks will likely leave this last place to Landry Shamet, who played for the team last season, which is probably the safest option in comparison. In addition, the Knicks are also paying attention to the situation of Malcolm Brogdon, but if they want to sign Brogdon, the Knicks must first make a deal to reduce the team's total salary.

In the second half of last season, Simmons completed a buyout with his former club Brooklyn Nets and joined the Los Angeles Clippers. After joining the Clippers, Simmons made a total of 18 appearances in the NBA regular season, averaging 16.4 minutes per game, averaging 2.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.4 blocks, and 0.8 turnovers and 1.4 fouls, with a shooting percentage of 43.4% and a free throw percentage of 85.7%. In the playoffs, Simmons played 5 games in a total of 8.4 minutes per game, with averaging 0.8 points, 1.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.2 steals and 0.8 blocks, 0.4 turnovers and 2.2 fouls, with a shooting percentage of 33.3%.

For Simmons, the current situation is actually very unfavorable. The free market has been open for almost two months. Although it has been revealed that many teams are interested in him, from the actual situation, not many teams have seriously considered the possibility of Simmons joining the team in a real sense. Therefore, so far, Simmons is still in a free agent state, and no team even provides him with a basic salary contract, and no team clearly expresses his determination to win. In other words, Simmons obviously has no chance of getting a contract that exceeds the basic salary next season. The most important point for him now is to find a team that can give him stable playing time and performance opportunities. It’s just that considering his performance last season and considering the negative impact he has on the offensive end on the team, we still don’t believe that there will be teams at the playoff level who will give priority to signing him. If this continues, Simmons is really going to have no ball to play?