With the 2024-25 season nearing its conclusion, it is time to start looking ahead to the offseason. In this article series, we will take a look at under-the-radar options in the 2025 Free Agency Pool. For the sake of simplicity, we are going to focus primarily on unrestricted free agents.

Few players have experienced a fall from grace on par with the one Ben Simmons has experienced over the last few years. Just four years ago, Simmons was being selected to All-Star and All-Defensive teams and considered an integral piece on a team that was one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals.

Then, injuries and an unwillingness to shoot the basketball caught up to him, leading to the former first overall pick accepting a contract buyout and signing with another team for the minimum in just his age-28 season.

Now, Simmons is an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and while it is clear he is no longer the top 25 player that he once was, Simmons has shown that he can still contribute to winning at the right price.

When he first arrived on the NBA scene, Simmons was viewed as a point guard because of his prodigious vision and advanced ball handling abilities. For the first four years of his career, Simmons never played less than 74% of his minutes at point guard and never logged a single minute in the frontcourt (per Basketball Reference).

Unfortunately, Simmons shooting woes (he’s only taken 36 career 3-pointers) and inability to bend defenses consistently made it nearly impossible to play him at lead guard and still field a sound offense.

The good news is that thanks to his size (6’10) and strength, Simmons has been able to transition to playing more minutes at power forward/center. This season, his three most frequent matchups included Giannis Antetokounmpo, Evan Mobley, and Pascal Siakam (per NBA.com).

The beauty of Simmons is that he has the force to battle with paint-centric players like the troika above and the gracefulness to dance with smaller players. According to BBall Index, Simmons’ performance last season placed in the 96th percentile in Defensive Positional Versatility.

Simmons gives teams who tout a more traditional center (Brook Lopez, Nikola Jokic, Ivica Zubac, etc.) a different pitch because of his ability to seamlessly toggle between guarding centers, forwards, and guards. If you’re one of those teams that rosters a stone-footed starting center and needs a lineup that can switch everything, you can turn to Simmons as your backup five in a small-ball lineup.

Simmons’ offensive foibles killed his teams when he was playing point guard, but when he’s at center, they are far less damaging. While playing the five, Simmons doesn’t need to worry about perimeter shooting or on-ball creation. He just needs to screen, cut, make quick reads as a passer (in short rolls or when he’s being used as a playmaking hub), and finish around the rim.

As the player card above shows, Simmons had a great season as a screener – placing in the 92nd percentile in screening talent (the same is true with his cutting). His distribution skills also remain as sharp as ever, as Simmons placed in the 100th percentile in Ben Taylor’s Passer Rating metric.

Finishing was a struggle for him last season (31st percentile rim accuracy), which is a big reason why head coach Tyronn Lue eventually phased him out of the rotation in the Los Angeles Clippers’ first round series against the Denver Nuggets. However, there is hope that this was just a fluke, as Simmons has placed in the 67th percentile or higher in rim finishing in five of his six other NBA seasons.

At the end of the day, Simmons is still a below average offensive player, even when he’s playing center. But his passing, screening, cutting, and finishing are good enough to keep him on the floor and allow his employer to reap the benefits of his all-inclusive defensive package.

As someone who will likely sign for the veteran minimum again this offseason (estimated to be 3.1 million, based on Simmons’ experience), Simmons offers a great option for playoff teams looking to add a versatile chess piece to their bench rotation at an affordable rate.

Did you enjoy this article? If so, be sure to check out the other installments in this series of Amir Coffey, Landry Shamet, Duncan Robinson, and Jae’Sean Tate.