The rise and fall of Ben Simmons

The career of Ben Simmons has been a wild one. After a preseason that looked like he was ready to make an NBA comeback, Simmons tore his Achilles at practice over the weekend. What was once a promising career has been derailed by injuries and his fear of shooting the basketball.

When the Philadelphia 76ers took Ben Simmons with the first pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, he was considered a slam dunk, some even called him the next LeBron. In Summer League that year Simmons was awesome, averaging 12.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists in 4 games played. However, he missed the entire 2016-17 season with a Jones fracture in his right foot. The 2017-18 season would be Simmons rookie year and he was, again, awesome, averaging 15.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 8.2 assists in 81 games played. That was good enough to win Rookie of the Year and, along with Joel Embiid, guide the 76ers to the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference. After taking the Miami Heat out in 5 games, the Sixers faced off with the Boston Celtics in round 2, who would knock Philly out in 5 games. Philly was wildly projected to win that series as Boston was without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward but the 76ers just could not close games and fell to Boston. The 2018-19 season was a real championship chance for the Sixers.

On November 12th, 2018, the Philadelphia 76ers traded Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jarryd Bayless and a 2022 second round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Jimmy Butler (they also got Justin Patton but he isn’t relevant to the story). On February 6th, 2019, Philadelphia traded Landry Shamet, Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, 2 first round picks and 2 second round picks to the Los Angeles Clippers for Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott. The Sixers had loaded up and built a starting 5 of Simmons, JJ Redick, Butler, Harris and Embiid, which was considered one of the best in the NBA. Simmons averaged 16.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game, making his first career All-Star team. They, again, finished 3rd in the Eastern Conference and faced off with the Brooklyn Nets in round 1. After losing Game 1, the Sixers rattled off 4 straight wins, knocking the upstart Nets out in 5 games. Then came the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors had traded for Kawhi Leonard that summer, a guy the Sixers were in the chase to trade for that summer. It was a series everyone was excited to watch and it lived up to the hype. After the Raptors took Game 1, the Sixers would take Game 2 in Toronto and then Game 3 back home to take a 2-1 series lead. With their season all but on the line in Game 4, Kawhi Leonard turned in a 39 point and 14 rebound masterclass to tie the series at 2. After each team won their home game in Games 5 and 6, Leonard delivered another master piece, 41 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals and the first ever Game 7 buzzer beater in NBA playoffs history. Philly had their chances to win the game but they came up short and watched the Toronto Raptors hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy in June.

The 2019-20 season was a disaster for the Sixers. In the summer, they signed Al Horford, acquired Josh Richardson and gave Tobias Harris a new 5-year contract, all while seeing Jimmy Butler walk out the door to sign with the Miami Heat. That year the Sixers came in with some really high expectations. Instead, they fell flat on their face, finishing 43-30 in the COVID shortened season and were swept in the first round by the Boston Celtics. Simmons had a great year, averaging 16.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists while making his 2nd All-Star team and his first All-NBA team. However, he did not play in the playoffs due to a left knee injury.

Before we get into the 2020-21 season. We need to talk about Simmons’ lack of willingness to shoot the basketball. He was a 60% free throw shooter for his Sixers career and only took 34 threes in his Sixers career (which is more than I expected) making just 5 of them, which is just under 15%. For as bad as you remember it, it was worse. That year the Sixers had a great season. They were 49-23 in the shortened season and were the number 1 seed. Simmons averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists, making his 3rd, and final, All-Star team and finishing 2nd in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Then the Hawks series started and Simmons' career fell apart. The Hawks stole Game 1 before Philly won Games 2 and 3. Atlanta tied the series at 2 at home in Game 4, making the series a best of 3. In game 5, the Sixers held a 26 point lead and then a 24 point lead late in the third quarter before choking the game away. Simmons went 4/14 at the line in the game with just 8 points in the game. Philly saved their season with a Game 6 win in Atlanta, setting up a winner take all Game 7 back in Philadelphia. In a two point game with 3:34 to go in the 4th quarter, Simmons was posted up on Danilo Gallinari. He made a nice spin move to get by Gallinari and was wide open with only Trae Young in front of him at the rim. Instead of what should have been an easy dunk, Simmons gave up the ball to Matisse Thybulle, who was fouled and went 1 of 2 from the line. The Sixers lost the game 103-96 and Ben Simmons would never play for the Philadelphia 76ers again.

The city turned on him after what became an infamous play, all Simmons had to do was go up and dunk the ball but he was scared of getting fouled. For that series, Simmons was 15/45 from the line. Ben would hold out at the start of the 2021-22 season and get traded as a part of the 2nd James Harden trade in the 2020s, which saw Harden leave the Brooklyn Nets for the 76ers. Simmons would play just 90 games in the 3 years he was a Net before his contract was bought out on February 7th, 2025. He signed with the Clippers to finish the 2024-25 season but went unsigned last year.

Simmons actually had played well in the preseason for the Kings. On October 16th against the Spurs, Simmons had 14 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in 26 minutes and he went 4/4 from the foul line, which makes this Achilles injury so devastating. Ben Simmons had a real chance to carve out a role on this Kings team and instead, he will miss yet another season.

At his peak, Ben Simmons was a star player, who was an elite passer, rebounder and defender whose size and court vision made him a cheat code for the Sixers as their point guard. He couldn’t shoot but his strength and athleticism allowed him to cover that up and still get to the rim. However, his unwillingness to shoot the basketball is what undid his career. As his athleticism declined, even just a little bit, Simmons was unable to overpower guys to get to the rim. Ben Simmons was supposed to lead the Sixers back to the top of the NBA world next to Joel Embiid. Instead, his career faded into the background as his untapped potential remained just that.