In a recent piece by Bleacher Report, Eric Pincus made a bold prediction that the New York Knicks will be the ones who ultimately sign three-time All-Star and current free agent Ben Simmons.
Considering the small number of potential destinations he appears to have, the seasoned writer is projecting that the former number one pick will be snatched up on a minimum deal.
With his famously putrid scoring game coupled with his injury woes that have held him to just 108 out of a potential 328 games since 2021-22, it should come as no surprise that prospective buyers in Simmons are rather scarce.
However, there's reason to believe that he can still be of use within a team's rotation if put in the right situation. Truth be told, the Knicks may be exactly that.
Knicks need distributors outside of Jalen Brunson & defense next to KAT
When looking at this Knicks team, there appear to be two attributes they could certainly benefit from adding: Another distributor, preferably one coming off the pine, to help complement Jalen Brunson, and more big-bodied, defensive players to slot in next to Karl-Anthony Towns.
Last season, New York was otherworldly reliant on Brunson to create offense for both himself as well as his teammates.
His astonishing 28.9 percent usage rate, along with the fact that he saw a ridiculous 70.0 percent of his made field goals come unassisted, only strengthens the notion that he could use some help in the generating offense department. Even having someone who can take over as a primary handler from time to time and feed him the ball for cleaner looks at scoring opportunities could help immensely.
As for Towns, since his partnership with Rudy Gobert during his time with the Timberwolves, it has become quite evident that he plays at his best when accompanied by a big man with a defensive-oriented mentality.
Heading into this season, the belief is that he and Robinson will share the frontcourt together in the starting lineup, though, behind the two of them, there really aren't many difference-making bigs who can excel on the less glamorous side of the ball, thus leaving Towns vulnerable with Mitch out.
By all accounts, Simmons could be a solution to both of these stars' problems
Measuring in at 6-foot-10, 240 pounds while boasting a career average of 11.2 assists per 100 possessions, the numbers clearly show that the guard-forward hybrid has the makings of being able to kill two birds with one stone for New York.
Add on his two All-Defensive selections and a career defensive rating of 107, and he seems like the ideal low-risk, high-reward talent to float a minimum deal to.
Though he may no longer be the All-NBA talent he once was during his early days with the Sixers, as he showed last season during his stint out in Los Angeles, he's still a highly efficient dime-dropper (dished out 56 assists to just 14 turnovers in 18 games) and finished with the third-best defensive rating (minimum 15 games played) on the third-best defensive team in the association.
At a cost of roughly $4 million, the Knicks could take a swing at someone of Simmons's talents that, if all goes right, could go on to benefit both of their cornerstone stars.