Ben Simmons was the number one pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, and no one questioned it either. He genuinely seemed like a once in a lifetime type of player. Boy, was everyone wrong.
Simmons won the NBA Rookie of the Year award after completely missing his first season due to a foot injury. He later earned three All-Star selections, two All-NBA Defensive Team selections, and an All-NBA Third Team appearance. A 6’10” point guard with an all around game, he drew comparisons to LeBron James and Magic Johnson. He could pass, rebound, facilitate and play great defense. Essentially, he could do everything on a basketball court, besides shoot.
Ben’s lack of development offensively and refusing to shoot really impacted his career. Every offseason, NBA fans around the world witnessed Simmons in an open gym and lighting it up from 3. This fooled people, especially Sixers fans, every single season. His stats steadily declined every year and no improvement was ever made to his game. Simmons’ performance against the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 playoffs was the nail in the coffin for his career. After lackluster and passive play, Sixers fans let it be known that they were tired of Ben Simmons. The former number one pick had not lived up to expectations. In 2022, Philly traded Simmons to Brooklyn for James Harden. Maybe a change of scenery would help him, right? Well, it only got worse from there.
In three seasons with the Brooklyn Nets, Ben Simmons has only played 57 games and has missed a total of 121 games. It has to be mentioned that he is constantly dealing with lower back injuries that have plagued him from playing. He’s approximately made $78 million dollars over that span of time, and is still owed $40 million next year. Not to mention he is averaging 6.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists in his Nets tenure. This rapid decline of a once promising career is unfortunate. Most basketball fans saw the lack of work ethic and growth from Simmons, but this was shocking nonetheless.
The combination of lackluster play, work ethic, injuries and refusal to develop an offensive game have essentially killed his career. It’s hard to envision him having a long career as most people thought he would. The former number one pick, who was once considered the next LeBron, is now considered one of the worst players in the league. Early All-Star and All-NBA selections had fans thinking he would be a star, but he just ended up being a somber story.
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