Ben Simmons contract: When and how can 76ers move on?
By Josh Hill
After burning his last bridge with 76ers fans, and now the question is how can the Ben Simmons contract be moved?
As bad as the Philadelphia 76ers were as a whole in Game 7 on Sunday night, Ben Simmons somehow looks worse than it all.
Simmons was merely part of the implosion that Philly suffered against the Atlanta Hawks, but he’s perhaps the biggest part. In a do-or-die game that he was drafted No. 1 overall to shine in, Simmons shot the ball four times and missed the basket half of those times. He finished the game with just five points, one free throw, and 12 assists that become incredibly less admirable when you realize he was simply trying to pass the ball as far away from himself as possible so that he wouldn’t have to attempt any free throws.
Total Disaster doesn’t even begin to accurately describe how Simmons played in Game 7, and it seems to have been a final straw for almost everyone in Philadelphia. Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid threw Simmons under the bus after the game, and fans are revisiting the many Ben Simmons trade rumors that have popped up in the past and will almost certainly populate talk radio for the entire offseason.
Among the things 76ers fans are wondering in the aftermath of the Game 7 loss is how the Ben Simmons contract can be moved and how much the Sixers are on the hook for.
Ben Simmons contract
Unfortunately for Sixers fans, Simmons is under contract until the 2025 offseason. That’s when he’ll become an unrestricted free agent, but in the meantime he’s going to cost Philly a pretty penny to stand around and do nothing in Game 7 scenarios.
Here’s a look at the breakdown of the Ben Simmons contract:
2021-22: $33,003,936
2022-23: $35,448,672
2023-24: $37,893,408
2024-25: $40,338,144
2025: UFA
Each year of his contract Simmons will have a cap hit equal to his base salary. If he’s moved in a trade, he’ll need to be moved for a superstar that not only brings back talent to Philadelphia but matches the dollars that the Sixers would be shipping out.
Ben Simmons trade rumors
Dating back to the James Harden rumors at the deadline, Ben Simmons trade rumors have been swirling with a louder and louder gust the worse he’s played.
The problem is that Simmons cratering in the NBA Playoffs has sunk his trade value. He’s still a major asset, and would be the centerpiece of a deal that ships him out of town, but such a sale just got a lot harder to pitch to front offices around the league.
Expect Damian Lillard trade rumors to be a thing for a hot second, as well as rumblings that Bradley Beal or CJ McCollum are trade targets for the Sixers in a package centered around Simmons.