On Thursday it was announced that three-time All-Star Ben Simmons was out for the season with a nagging back injury. Simmons has only played in 15 games this season. He played in 42 games last season, and none the year prior. It wasn’t supposed to be like this after Simmons was taken first overall in the 2016 NBA draft.
6’10 Simmons could handle the ball and pass like an elite point guard. Many believed he was the best player in the draft, consisting of Brandon Ingram, Jaylen Brown, and Jamal Murray. Simmons was the number one high school prospect in 2015 and committed to play at LSU. Lots of expectations were placed on Simmons and LSU when he entered college for what many assumed would be his only season in Baton Rouge.
Simmons at LSU
Simmons’ time at LSU was marred by controversy and underperforming by LSU. Were these the first signs? Should we have all picked up on his team’s lack of success (they missed the tournament) as a reason Simmons wasn’t a winning player? Maybe? But plenty of college basketball one-and-done’s miss the big dance.
What is more alarming than LSU’s team success was that Ben Simmons only attempted three three-point field goals in college. THREE! Not even those end-of-the-shot clock ball finds you and you throw one up happened to Simmons. This was probably the biggest red flag everyone failed to recognize during his time at LSU.
Despite the lack of three-point field goal attempts, Simmons still put up monster college stats. He averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds a game. He attempted nine free throws a game. For some context, in today’s offensive explosion, only two players average more than nine free throws a game in college basketball.
Simmons in the NBA
ESPN First Take ran a segment on January 21st, 2016 titled: “Could Simmons be the next LeBron James?”
People felt a certain type of way when watching Simmons. His size and passing skills made people believe he could be another Magic or LeBron. However, what people failed to realize was that in 2016, the NBA was amidst a change.
The Golden State Warriors and the “Splash Brothers,” were bringing in a new era. Players today can be expected to space the floor and be able to shoot. The league started to phase out guards and big men who couldn’t shoot. This would affect Simmons later down the road.
After missing his first year in the NBA due to injury (red flag), Ben Simmons made the All-Star team three times in his first four years. Everything seemed to be on the up and up for Simmons in Philadelphia. Then on June 20th, 2021, everything changed for Simmons.
With less than four minutes left in game seven, Simmons passed up a wide-open dunk. The 76ers lost the game and everyone blamed Simmons. His co-star and his coach. This led to him throwing a tantrum, and refusing to play for the 76ers. He practiced with his phone in his pocket!
He never played for the 76ers again and was traded for James Harden at the following season’s trade deadline. Simmons had a weird time after that play. He’s never been able to recover. In the almost three years since that fateful night, Simmons has only played in 57 games and attempted two three-pointers.
Simmons has enjoyed being famous more than actually caring about basketball. It doesn’t seem like there has been any improvement in his game at all. He still seems like the same guy he was at LSU.
How I Will Remember Ben Simmons
History won’t be kind to Ben Simmons. Words like quitter, lazy, shameful, and delusional will be used to describe him. Every time another negative Simmons update happens it is an opportunity for talking heads to tee off on him. Despite this, they all lack context. Simmons is a big guy at 6’10 and a back injury of his size is hard to come back from. What made him great was his elite athleticism for his size which allowed him to thrive in transition. Take that away, and he’s just a great passer who can’t shoot and isn’t as dominant on defense.
Mental health isn’t a joke, yet at certain times people seemed to think he was using it as an excuse. This dismisses the fact that men in their early 20s are likely to suffer from mental health issues. After that Hawks game, Simmons had access to all the hate he’d receive via social media. Simmons had never faced adversity in his entire life up until then.
The number one high school prospect, he went to college because he had to. He was compared to LeBron James, and James even agreed! That’s a massive expectation for someone who attempted three threes in college. We as fans don’t know our athletes at all. We think we do because of all the interviews they give and Instagram posts we see. The truth is that Simmons never faced any adversity before the Hawks game. That’s sensible. I along with countless others wouldn’t know how to process my coworkers and boss throwing me under the bus publicly.
Ben Simmons has made nearly $200 million during his career. The odds he’ll ever return to his former self or even come close to his potential is low. He’s 27 and still has his whole life ahead of him. Yet, we as fans will always feel disappointed that we never got to see what truly could’ve been an incredible career.
Featured Image: Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images
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