How Kings swooped Hawks for Simon

The Sydney Kings have the Illawarra Hawks’ number right now – both on the court and on the free agency negotiating table.

After sweeping the Hawks in the semi-finals, the Kings have recorded another win against their arch-rival, beating them to the punch for the highly sought-after signature of Justin Simon.

Simon has history in Illawarra, playing for the club two seasons ago where he won the Best Defensive Player award.

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The 26-year-old touched down in Sydney this week and revealed he might have returned to the Hawks if they called him a tad earlier.

“I tell you what, (the Hawks) were about 40 minutes too late to have some type of chance of working something out,” Simon said, via The Canberra Times.

“All in all though, (Sydney) is where I want to be. I'm glad everything worked out the way it was supposed to.”

Simon is looking forward to igniting the Kings Hawks rivalry and experiencing the feud while donning the purple and gold.

“(The Hawks) know it's all part of the competitive nature for me, as far as that type of stuff goes," he said.

“Coming to the rival club, Sydney is a beautiful city. It's a historic club and I just want to be a part of something special. This is the place to be.”

Simon won’t need to wait long to meet his old friends, with the Kings opening the season in Illawarra against the Hawks on October 1.