{"id":324653,"date":"2025-12-03T09:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T09:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/324653\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T09:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T09:27:10","slug":"ben-simmons-instagram-comment-on-return-to-philadelphia-76ers-free-agency-contract-teams-interested-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/324653\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Simmons Instagram comment on return to Philadelphia 76ers, free agency, contract, teams interested, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Simmons remains without an NBA team after the off-season came and went and the Aussie free agent didn\u2019t sign anywhere.<\/p>\n

But Simmons has indicated he\u2019d be open to a shock reunion with the Philadelphia 76ers in an Instagram comment.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been mostly silence regarding the former No. 1 pick\u2019s NBA plans since his stint with the LA Clippers ended last season. <\/p>\n

Watch NBA with ESPN on Kayo Sports | Stream an average 9 LIVE Regular Season games per week plus the best of the NBA Playoffs.| New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Simmons took to Instagram, however, to respond to a comment from a fan asking if he\u2019d be open to returning to Philadelphia for a second stint on a minimum deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Sixers asked you back to play centre\/PF would you come back on minimum contract would you?,\u201d the fan asked.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To which Simmons responded: \u201cIt ain\u2019t about the (money). I\u2019d hoop there for free. It\u2019s deeper than what they make y\u2019all believe, which is why it keep pushing. (Right now) the focus is getting the body to 100 per cent before putting my heath on the line again … like I have been the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons’ comment about a Philadelphia (Image: Instagram)Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

His relationship with Philadelphia and former running partner Joel Embiid is complicated, to say the least, including receiving a hostile reception whenever he returned to Xfinity Mobile Arena.<\/p>\n

Simmons rose to NBA stardom in his early years at the Sixers and he was considered one of the best two-way players in the league. <\/p>\n

It included three All-Star appearances and getting named to a All-NBA Third Team and two NB-All-Defensive First Teams as well as earning the Aussie a max NBA contract.<\/p>\n

Ben Simmons 5 and Joel Embiid in 2021 (Photo by Christian Petersen \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n

But Simmons\u2019 career tailed off after Philly\u2019s 2021 playoff implosion against Atlanta and things turned sour after he requested a trade. He was eventually traded to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a James Harden deal in 2022.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-10 guard struggled to stay healthy across his four seasons for Brooklyn and the Clippers, playing a total of 107 games.<\/p>\n

He rejected a one-year minimum contract offer from the New York Knicks last off-season, according to NBA insider Marc Stein, and reportedly drew limited interest elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interest has been lukewarm. There are a few teams that are interested. Frankly, if you\u2019re looking at him as a point guard, there\u2019s not that many teams out there that are in need of a point guard who has guaranteed playing time,\u201c ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst said in September<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re looking at him as sort of a defensive big man, there\u2019s a little bit bigger of a market.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the reality is he\u2019s looking at the minimum contract, which is still, you know, about (USD) $4 million for him this year. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe might even be forced to take a contract where he\u2019s not guaranteed \u2014 where he would have to sort of earn his way on to the team through training camp and then maybe not know his status until midway through the season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Simmons remains without an NBA team after the off-season came and went and the Aussie free agent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[2620,2095,4131,64,63,726,182499,81786,485,2066,5510,800,3738,2105,20506,1173,481,7232,182501,182497,1666,2041,2067,182500,12274,5136,182496,971,182495,182498,85,20505,42307,182494,2614],"class_list":["post-324653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-america","tag-atlanta","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-ben-simmons-instagram","tag-brian-windhorst","tag-california","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-christian-petersen","tag-espn-inc","tag-fox-sports","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-inc-center","tag-james-harden","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-minimum-contract","tag-minimum-deal","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-one-year-minimum-contract","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-playoff-implosion","tag-point-guard","tag-running-partner","tag-shock-reunion","tag-sports","tag-staples","tag-state-of-georgia","tag-telcos-ampamp-television","tag-united-states-of-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}