Former Nets Player Wants More Than Veteran Minimum Salary

The Brooklyn Nets are looking for more salary dump candidates with $14 million in cap space, but reuniting with Ben Simmons is unlikely. The 29-year-old is entering his tenth year in the league and wants to make more than the NBA's veteran minimum salary.

Along with Simmons, Russell Westbrook is in the same boat of wanting to play the 2025-26 season above the vet minimum. They may not be at their past superstar level, but Simmons and Westbrook could provide quality minutes to playoff teams.

REPORT: Ben Simmons & Russell Westbrook both want more than the veteran’s minimum salary from NBA teams, according to @AmicoHoops.

They may go unsigned before camp because of it.

Thoughts? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/XzCg5Ni8Mg
— Courtside Buzz (@CourtsideBuzzX) September 2, 2025

The projected salary for players on the vet minimum this upcoming season is $3.6 million. Simmons signed a contract with the Los Angeles Clippers for the rest of the 2025 season on Feb. 10 worth $1 million.

Simmons received 16.4 minutes per game in his 18 appearances for the Clippers. He averaged 2.9 points per game and shot 43.4% from the field in a small sample size. Given these statistics and his desire for a pay increase, he may face a long holdout.

Westbrook played last season on a vet minimum for the Denver Nuggets and finished seventh in Sixth-Man of the Year voting. There is a strong argument that Westbrook deserves a salary in the $5-10 million range, but it's harder to make the case for Simmons.

The former Most Valuable Player averaged 13.3 points per game and shot his best percentage from three since the 2016-17 season. A reason that may draw contending teams away from Westbrook was his poor performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals from an efficiency standpoint.

Meanwhile, Simmons has not averaged more than seven points per game since the 2020-21 season. In his 108 games with Brooklyn across three seasons, he brought high-level playmaking and rebounding at the cost of turnover troubles and a lack of assertiveness to score.

While there may not be a place for Simmons on the Nets' current roster, he could still be valuable to a contending team with little wiggle room in terms of cap space. It does not benefit Brooklyn's future to give him an overpay just to fill salary requirements.

Most NBA teams will start their training camps in late September or early October, just ahead of the regular season, which begins on Oct. 22. It would be beneficial for Simmons to sign a contract before training camp so that he has a better opportunity to contribute to his new team.

Simmons has primarily been linked to the New York Knicks in free agency, and they could use depth behind Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart in the backcourt. His time in Brooklyn did not see a resurgence, and his pursuit of a higher salary may leave him without a team as the 2025-26 season draws near.