Nets' Simmons on Impending FA: 'I Just Want to Keep Going Until I Can't Anymore'

The guard remains focused on the upcoming season.

Sep 30, 2024; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons (10) at HSS Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Ben Simmons is healthy and ready to contribute amid an injury-plagued tenure with the Brooklyn Nets. He enters the final year of the five-year, $177.2 million contract he signed back in 2020 in the same season that Brooklyn opted to enter a complete rebuild.

But the contract isn't dwelling on his mind, Simmons told Brian Lewis of the New York Post. He's remaining focused on his performance in 2024-25.

"So f–k what happens next year, and what contract I get, if I get a contract," Simmons said. "I want to do my job while I'm here and be professional and help these guys in any way I can."

"So who knows? I want to play as long as my body will allow me," he continued. "So if it's one year, five years, six years, I don't know what it is. But I just want to keep going until I can't anymore."

Simmons generated the most preseason hype since his trade to the Nets. Trainers, media members and current members of Brooklyn's roster gushed about the 6-foot-10 guard's sudden re-emergence towards the end of this past summer.

"People make comments saying I’m robbing. No. When I got that contract, I was playing at a super high level. Unfortunately, I had injuries," Simmons said. "But for somebody to say that, it’s disrespectful. [But] people can say what they want to say. They’ve got to live with it. At the end of the day it all catches up with you.”

With new head coach Jordi Fernandez at the helm, Simmons has the perfect opportunity to rejuvenate his career and solidify his place in a Nets uniform for years to come.

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