A brutal struggle to justify rotation minutes defined KJ Simpson's early campaign, as he bled value every time he stepped on the hardwood. Even when his counting stats looked passable, hidden costs dragged him down. Take the 11/11 vs LAL matchup, where he tallied 8 points and 4 assists in 20 minutes. Despite hitting a pair of threes, his overall floor game was a disaster, resulting in a dismal -12.9 Impact score. His shot selection completely unraveled on 11/16 vs OKC, where he forced up 13 field goal attempts just to scrape together a stretch-high 9 points, earning a -3.4 Impact mark for his wildly inefficient gunning. The bottom completely fell out during the 11/20 vs IND contest. He was pulled after just 3 minutes, leaving him with a staggering -13.2 Impact score and a stat line of absolute zeros.

KJ Simpson’s mid-winter stretch was defined by a fleeting promotion to the starting lineup sandwiched between brutal stints of inefficient reserve play. Given a starting nod on 12/07 vs DEN, he poured in a stretch-high 16 points and grabbed five rebounds to generate a +7.8 Impact score. While he needed 14 shot attempts to reach that point total, his active work on the glass kept his overall value firmly in the green. Unfortunately, a return to the bench the following week triggered an immediate regression in his offensive discipline. On 12/14 vs CLE, Simpson forced terrible looks against the defense. He hoisted nine shots to score just six points, plummeting to a miserable -10.6 Impact score as his poor shot selection actively stalled out the second unit. That erratic decision-making carried over into a disastrous 2-for-7 shooting night on 12/19 vs ATL, where his abysmal -12.4 Impact score highlighted the steep cost of a reserve guard forcing up bad shots.