The Philadelphia 76ers secure their core by agreeing to long-term extension with their franchise point guard Ben Simmons.
One of the early moves the Philadelphia 76ers made at the beginning of free agency this summer was to contact Ben Simmons‘ agent Rich Paul to begin negotiations of a contract extension with the young All-Star point guard. The Sixers had offered Simmons a max contract extension of five-years and $170 million on July 2, 2019. Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that Philly and Simmons have agreed upon that deal.
It took about 13 days before the deal was agreed upon, but now the Sixers have their future set with the core of Simmons, Joel Embiid, Al Horford and Tobias Harris. Simmons’ contract extension won’t go into affect until the 2020-21 season and according to Bobby Marks of ESPN, it could be costly for the Sixers down the road.
Starting in 2020-21, Philadelphia will make a $580M investment between four players: Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Al Horford and now Ben Simmons. The 76ers next season have $148M in salary between 11 players- $6M over the projected luxury tax threshold.... https://t.co/AFgSOfr0UZ
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 15, 2019
That’s not even including Josh Richardson‘s contract, who has three-years and $32.5 million left on his deal. This is a big gamble by general manager Elton Brand and if the core doesn’t deliver a NBA title in the two or three seasons, Brand could be out of a job. Still regardless of the financial ramifications, this move was a no-brainier for Simmons and the franchise. He’s a generational talent, even without a jump shot.
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By the end of his second season, Simmons has already won Rookie of the Year and has been named to the All-Rookie first team and this past season an All-Star. He recorded 10 triple-doubles this past season which is third best in the league. For his career he has 22 triple-doubles and is only nine way tying John Havlicek for 12th most for all-time most triple-doubles.
Simmons holds career averages of 16.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks, while making 55.4 percent of his field goals. If he does add an outside shot to his game, then he could easily be one of the best players in the whole NBA.
Now that this contract extension has been taken care of, it will be interesting if his status of for FIBA World Cup will change from “doubtful”. It remains to be seen, but the coach for the Australian team has been keeping an open line of communication with Simmons. It seems at the moment the door isn’t completely closed on him representing his country in FIBA this offseason.
Agreeing to this deal makes for both the Philadelphia 76ers and Simmons. Simmons gets a huge payday and the Sixers lockup a franchise player for essentially six seasons.