3 teams with enough shooting to target Ben Simmons as potential buyout candidate

The Brooklyn Nets are finally embracing a full-scale rebuild, which puts Ben Simmons' future under the microscope. There are essentially two potential outcomes here. On an expiring contract worth $40.3 million, Simmons is excellent trade bait for teams looking to offload bad salaries. If the Nets can't find a taker, though, Simmons becomes a prime buyout candidate.

Sure, there's a world in which he just finishes the season in Brooklyn, but the Nets aren't going to view Simmons as part of their future. The former No. 1 pick has spent the last couple of years battling through nerve issues in his back. Far enough removed from his unceremonious flameout in Philadelphia, it's hard not to feel a bit sad for Simmons. The dude has been through a lot. Some of it was of his own accord, to be clear, but at just 28 years old, Simmons has gone from the next Magic Johnson to a laughing stock. It sucks.

Simmons' game is predicated on speed and strength. If he can't trust his back, we can hardly expect him to operate with the necessary assertiveness and physicality. We are more familiar with knee and ankle injuries in the basketball realm, but back ailments are notoriously tricky. Your back is essentially your body's nervous highway. Everything is connected there.

Simmons probably deserves a bit more sympathy for that reason. It's easy to LOL about his botched layup in that Hawks series, or about how ugly that 76ers exit was, but his struggles in Brooklyn haven't really been mental. His body is just breaking down at the worst possible time.

Ideally, Simmons enters this season healthy and ready to re-establish some semblance of value in a rotation. If he winds up on the cutting room floor, either because the Nets can't trade him or because the team that trades for him doesn't want him, here are a few logical landing spots.

3. Oklahoma City Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder are going to win the West. You heard it here first. Sam Presti has finally pushed his chips in, landing Isaiah Hartenstein in one of the offseason's most consequential free agent acquisitions and trading for Alex Caruso, a heist made all the more impressive by how highly coveted Caruso has been at recent trade deadlines.

OKC has unmatched depth and more than enough star power to combat the West's heavyweights. The Thunder were the No. 1 seed last season with one of the league's youngest rosters. Now the core has another year of experience under its belt, the roster has been drastically improved on the margins, and Presti still has more than enough trade ammo to pull off another consequential addition.

If Ben Simmons becomes available midseason for the minimum, that's an easy, risk-free gamble for the OKC front office. It's a great stylistic fit on paper. OKC's offense revolves around constant drives-and-kicks, turning rim pressure into open 3s and cyclical ball movement. Simmons doesn't shoot well, but OKC can put him in four-out lineups with Chet Holmgren and have zero holes on defense. It's easy to forget that, before the injuries, Simmons was among the best on-ball defenders in the NBA.

The Thunder are talented enough to avoid placing significant pressure on Simmons. It's all upside. If he can't figure it out, the Thunder are just fine without him. If he starts to put the pieces together, though, OKC is built to accentuate Simmons' strengths and unearth new layers to his skill set. I'd like to see it.

2. Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns are the most obvious Ben Simmons team. Mat Ishbia has been all-in on stockpiling talent since his arrival. Their interest in Bronny James shows a rather blatant interest in big names. Simmons has seen his reputation put through the wringer, but he's still a name, and the Suns' financial flexibility is highly restricted under the new CBA, so there's not much opportunity for upside swings.

Is Simmons a perfect fit in Phoenix? Not really. He needs a stretch five, which Jusuf Nurkic is not. The Suns would probably deploy Simmons as a small-ball five, a concept that works better on paper than it does in actuality. At least, that has been the case in the past. Simmons' defense doesn't really translate to the five spot — he's not a rim protector — and his skill set is far better oriented to point guard duties.

The next step in Simmons' development has always been developing more 'big man' skills. If he was a more willing screener, a more active cutter and lob threat, that would dramatically increase the flexibility of his skill set. Philadelphia was boxed in by Simmons' commitment to being a point guard and only a point guard. If he goes to Phoenix and commits to the connective traits needed in a backup five, maybe it works.

Simmons can absolutely still push the tempo and put pressure on the rim in transition, assuming he's relatively healthy. The Suns have no shortage of offensive firepower split between Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Grayson Allen. The shooting volume is real, and Simmons can spoon-feed open 3s as well as anybody in the league when he's rocking.

1. Boston Celtics

As if Ben Simmons couldn't find a way for Sixers fans to hate him even more...

The Boston Celtics are actually a great basketball fit for Simmons. A lot of shooting, a heavy emphasis on the drive-and-kick, a la OKC. The Celtics are also just unfairly loaded with talent, including a couple very capable stretch fives in Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford. Boston can maximize Simmons' defense and, in theory, mask his pitfalls on the offensive end.

We are in wait-and-see mode regarding Simmons' NBA future, but if he can just string together a few months of healthy basketball, one has to imagine a 6-foot-10 athlete of his caliber, with his knack for playmaking, is going to carve out a role. The Celtics don't really have a backup point guard. Boston also isn't flush with great passers. Simmons goes out of his way to create for teammates and promote ball movement. His style would complement Boston's core quite nicely.

The idea of Simmons winning a ring in Boston is just pure toxicity. It would not go over well in Philadelphia, and frankly, there's a part of my Sixers doomer brain that kind of wants to see it. Not actually, of course, but the takes would be special.

It's fair to be worried about thrusting Simmons into such a prominent spotlight. The Boston fandom can be ruthless in its own right and the Celtics are burdened with tremendous expectations. In this scenario, though, Simmons is basically a pure upside swing for any team. If he doesn't cut it, the Celtics don't really need him. He isn't the missing piece. He's just gravy, a new wrinkle in the second unit. Zero risk. Maybe a reward.

(Yes, Ben Simmons said he would go back to Philly. Yes, the Sixers would benefit from a healthy Ben Simmons. No, it just cannot happen. There's no way it ends well. I leave you with this.)