The Ballard of Aussie Benjamin David Simmons

Australian point-forward Ben Simmons' NBA career is a tale of two parts — including an intermission, with time to get more popcorn.

2017-2021 Ben Simmons was beast-mode. 2022-2024 Ben Simmons ... not so much.

2017-2021 Ben Simmons was a 3× NBA All-Star (2019–2021); All-NBA Third Team (2020); 2× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2020, 2021); NBA Rookie of the Year (2018); NBA All-Rookie First Team (2018); and NBA steals leader (2020).

2017-2021 Ben Simmons also had 32 triple doubles, dropped a career high 42 on the Utah Jazz in a February 2021 road game, monstered the boards a career high 22 times against the New York Knicks in January 2019, and dished a career high 17 dimes as part of an all-world triple double (16-13-17) against the Detroit Pistons in December, 2019.

And then IT happened — June 20, 2021

The one play that changed his career trajectory.

With 3:31 left in the fourth, the 76ers down a bucket, Simmons turned baseline but instead of the 6'10", 109kg, point-forward hammering the ball home over the top of 6'1", 74kg Hawks point guard Trae Young he passed to fellow Australian Matisse Thybulle. Thybulle was fouled on his dunk attempt and made just 1 of 2.

Simmons, the first pick in the 2016 NBA draft, took only four shots in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals at home against the Atlanta Hawks and, sinfully in the eyes of 76ers fans, didn't finish with authority on a wide open dunk late in the game that could have sparked a game-winning Sixers run.

He finished Game 7 with 5-8-13 in the 103-96 loss. It capped off a difficult post season for the pass-first Australian.

All-Star centre Joel Embiid and 76ers teammates was less than helpful in the post game press conference.

"I'll be honest. I thought the turning point was when we, I don’t know how to say it, is when we had an open shot and we made one free throw," Embiid said.

Asked if Simmons could still be a point guard for a championship contender, coach Doc Rivers said he didn't have an answer. Later, Rivers said he'd been taken out of context.

But it was over. Simmons would never play for the Philadelphia 76ers again.

It was over at Philadelphia for a player whose rise to one of the best players in the world started even before he set foot on an NBA court: He was a consensus first-team All-American (2016) playing for LSU; USBWA National Freshman of the Year (2016); First-team All-SEC (2016); SEC Freshman of the Year (2016); National high school player of the year (2015); McDonald's All-American (2015); and First-team Parade All-American (2015).

In late June, Simmons told the Australian Olympic basketball team he wouldn't play for the Boomers at the Tokyo Games Olympic Games, instead he'd work on improving his game.

At that stage, Simmons still had four years and $147 million left on his contract with the 76ers — including a whopping $33 million for the 2021-22 season. But the break-up continued to fester over the course of the next couple of months and into training camp.

On October 1, the 76ers refuse to pay Simmons $8.25m owed to him as part of the terms of his contract, instead putting it into a holding account they would then use to deduct fines for him failing to show-up to official team obligations.

Nineteen days later, Simmons showed up for a team practice but was suspended soon after for "conduct detrimental to the team". ESPN reported at the time that Rivers threw Simmons out of practice for refusing to sub into a drill.

"I just thought he was a distraction today," Rivers said. "I didn't think he wanted to do what everybody else was doing. It was early. It wasn't a big deal. I just told him he should leave. We went on with practice."

He was suspended for a pre-season game and, in total, missed five, was fined $360,000 for four of them and then fined another $227,000 for the game he was suspended.

The stand-off was polarising in Philadelphia.

Even NFL player for the Philadelphia Eagles Jason Kelce offered up this sharp piece of "advice": "I don't want to crush any other players, but what's going on with the 76ers, Ben Simmons, stuff like that, all of that is because of a lack of accountability, a lack of owning up to mistakes and a lack of correcting things. ... So everybody can bitch and complain about how tough this city is to play in. Just play better, man. This city will love you."

But after the 76ers October 22 loss to the Nets, 76ers teammate Tobias Harris came to Simmons' defence: "At this time we have to respect his privacy, his space, and we've got to be there for him, with what he's going through and this process. It's easy to look at something on the surface and come to assumptions on a lot of things, especially athletes. ... So at this time he needs more support. I just think we have to be there for him as a team, and I relayed that to the group."

It was then revealed on November 2, that Simmons had been working with 76ers doctors on a back problem as well as, since July, mental health professionals facilitated by NBA Players Association.

But on November 5, he was fined a game payment — $360,000 — for missing the home win against the Detroit Pistons and by November 8, he'd agreed to meet with the 76ers' preferred mental health specialists. He was out "indefinitely."

It wouldn't be until the trade deadline on February 10, that Simmons would finally leave Philadelphia — 235 days after "the moment".

At last, he was traded along with Andre Drummond, Seth Curry, and two future first-round picks, to the Brooklyn Nets for All-Star and MVP James Harden along with Paul Millsap.

Simmons left the 76ers with an average box score that justified his NBA All-Star status: 275 regular season games; 15.9 points on 56% shooting; 5.9 rebounds; 7.4 assists; 1.7 steals per; and almost a block per game.

After it happened — June 21, 2021 to November 30, 2024

2021-22 Ben Simmons, now 26, didn't play a single minute of NBA basketball.

2022-23 Ben Simmons played just 42 games, averaged 26 minutes (about eight less than he did at the Sixers), 6.9 points per game, 6.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists.

2023-24 Ben Simmons played only 15 games, two-and-a-half less minutes than the season prior, and averaged 6.1 points per game, 7.9 rebounds, and 5.7 assists.

2024-25 Ben Simmons, 28, has played in 14 (starting 12) of the Nets' 19 games, averaging 24.9 minutes, 5.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.6 assists.

At Brooklyn, he's played just 71 games as of November 30, 2024, in three seasons, earning more than $100M after signing a five-year, $177.2M contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, which was traded to the Nets. His 2024-25 kick, his final year of that deal, is $40.3M.

Simmons is an unrestricted free agent next season and a likely candidate for a sign-and-trade for nowhere near his 2020 max deal or the Nets just let him test the market.

2024 Ben Simmons is shooting the ball at a career high 58.8% from the field but taking just five shots, which is less than half of his attempts in Philadelphia, while his rebounding and assists per game are running right around the same clip even with less minutes. His shots are coming almost exclusively at the rim.

Encouragingly, Simmons had one of his best games from a box score perspective on November 28, 2024 in a 127-117 win against the Phoenix Suns. He had 14-9-8 in 27 minutes on 7-for-8 shooting. He didn't shoot a free throw or a three.

Not much has changed since November 28.

German point guard Dennis Schröder was traded to the Golden State Warriors, which meant Simmons was set for more minutes at the one spot. Schröder was averaging 33 minutes per game, running the show for the Nets, with Simmons playing 25 minutes per game in more of utility role.

But the new wrinkle is the trade for D'Angelo Russell. Russell was traded back to the Brooklyn Nets with Maxwell Lewis and three second-round draft picks, in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton on December 29, 2024, meaning Simmons opportunity to play more minutes at the one is over.

Can All-Star Ben Simmons bounce back?

Back injuries suck. They are even worse for the "Ferrari" of professional athletes and at 6'10" and 109kgs with the speed and reflexes of a leopard, Simmons is an F40. But — and there's always a but with Ben — his challenges simply can't be fixed on a physio's table.

He can't shoot, which means, he doesn't want to shoot and he doesn't want to shoot because he can't shoot — a crushable paradox.

I see it often with kids coming through U14, U16 and U18s who are so dominant against other kids at those levels that it impacts the development of their game: Why shoot it when you can get to the rim and score with ease?

The evidence is all over his box scores, especially in his triple doubles. The 3PA column is virtually empty.

In 2016, Draft Express' Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz wrote: "The report on defending Simmons in the half-court is well known and was utilised effectively in recent weeks. Teams put smaller players on Simmons, backing off him and daring him to shoot. Simmons seems to have zero confidence in his outside shot and becomes passive when guarded this way. For his size (6'10"), Simmons is a gifted ball-handler. He has an incredible ability to change speeds, get to the rim and finish in transition. In the half-court, things haven't been quite as easy against better teams, particularly late in games. There are real questions about pairing Simmons with other ball-handlers or non-shooters in the NBA."

This scout remains accurate today.

There is little to no room on modern NBA rosters for players that can't shoot the ball and Simmons, even without the three ball, could survive with a mid-range game but, unfortunately, he doesn't have that in his bag either. It's almost exclusively dunks, lay-ups, runners or floaters.

At 20, there was still time to develop a three-point jumper but at 28 it's almost impossible to develop it, especially if there is an absolute reluctance to shoot it. There is no scouting report that says "go over pick and rolls" that involve Simmons — go under on virtually any NBA guard and you're taking the ball out of the net at very least, 40% of the time.

There's a scene in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby where Will Farrell's character is involved in a spectacular crash during a Nascar race. Ricky Bobby, crushed by fear, has convinced himself he's paralysed, coincidently his friends find him playing wheelchair basketball at the rehab centre. The scene culminates with Ricky stabbing himself in the leg with a steak knife to prove he has no feelings in his legs. He does.

Simmons' car crash came on June 21, 2021 with 3:38 to go in Game 7 and it still seems like he's trying to recover.

Simmons is a generational talent. From the mid-2010s, Australian basketball fans were dreaming of Boomers line-ups that included Simmons, his 208cm frame running the point, dominating the Olympic Games and World Cup — on both sides of the ball — at least until 2032. It hasn't happened.

The 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are still four years away and there isn't an Australian hoops fan that wouldn't want 2020 Ben Simmons in that squad.

But his only way back is on the floor and if his back is right, then "The Moment" must slip further into the rear view mirror (even though the little sign always says "Objects are seem closer than they appear") and out of sight.

Ben, for Australian basketball fans and everyone at here basketball.com.au our dream continues.

About the Author

Peter Brown is the head coach of the Sydney Comets Women’s Youth League team in the Waratah Basketball League in NSW. He is also the assistant coach for the Comets NBL1 women’s team in the NBL East Conference. Peter is a 30-year journalist, starting as a sports reporter at the NT News in the early 1990s. He played junior basketball for the Northern Territory at national championships from U16 to U20 and for the Territory’s senior men’s team at numerous international tournaments. Peter has been a basketball fan since the early 80s, especially the NBA. Basketball is his passion — and his opinions his own. Email peter.brown@basketball.com.au with feedback. Any email feedback on articles sent to Peter can be published on basketball.com.au for others to read.