Ben Simmons and Patty Mills will be NBA teammates again more than a decade after last being Australian Boomers teammates with confirmation of Simmons’ move to a third NBA team.
Simmons officially joined the LA Clippers on Tuesday, two days after the Brooklyn Nets agreed to buy out his contract and waived the point guard who endured a tumultuous time after leaving the Philadelphia 76ers having signed a monster $280 million deal.
The former No.1 draft pick was forced to give up a portion of his whopping $40.3 million salary for this season to make the shift.
Simmons was in the last of his five-year signed in July 2019 with the 76ers before moving to Brooklyn having endured issues with his back.
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A two-time All-Star, Simmons played in 33 of the Nets’ 52 games this season, starting 24, and averaged 6.2 points and 6.9 assists.
His time in Brooklyn began when he sat out the 2021-22 season after being traded in for James Harden before injury and other issues held the Australian star back.
Those issues also forced him to miss the Paris Olympics and the chance to team up with compatriot Mills for the first time in a national singlet since 2013.
Simmons missed the 2021 Tokyo Games, and previous commitments to suit up for the Boomers, skipping national duties for more than a decade as Mills made himself a Boomers legend, cemented by a bronze medal in Tokyo, the men’s first ever Olympic podium finish.
Mills, who only joined the Clippers in February himself, is the only Australian to play 1000 NBA games and likely in his final NBA season.
Ironically Simmons is also back on the same team as Harden who was traded by the Philadelphia 76ers to LA in 2023.
The full terms of Simmons new deal were not revealed.
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