Nets’ Ben Simmons ‘Better Now Than His All-Star Seasons,’ Trainer Claims

Ben Simmons’ decline from being one of the NBA’s bright young stars to a massive contract albatross before the age of 30 continues apace.

The former No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft out of LSU, Simmons has struggled with back and leg injuries for years now, in addition to cratering offensive play. It seems likely neither he nor his current team, the Brooklyn Nets, particularly want their marriage to continue.

The good news is, there’s a chance it won’t need to last the whole season. Simmons is on the final year of a brutally generous five-season, $177.2 million contract, and will rake in $40.3 million for 2024-25.

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Depending on how the season turns out for rival teams, there is a chance Brooklyn will be able to trade its way out from under Simmons’ deal for teams in need of long-term salary cap relief. The price would probably be taking back a longer-term veteran contract in exchange for Simmons, but there is a chance that, should the Nets play their cards right, they could actually extract some draft equity in return.

Simmons shooting coach Chris Brickley posted a video clip of Simmons working on his shot this offseason. This has been a frequent habit for Simmons, but has never actually yielded an improved jumper. Brickley has an impressive resume, having helped out LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kevin Love.

In response to a pessimistic fan, Brickley weighed in.

“Thanks bro but Ben is healthy, moving very well, he is better now than his All Star seasons,” Brickley wrote on X. “I’ve never co-signed a player that didn’t prove it when their season started. Trust me on this one.”

A former three-time All-Star with the Philadelphia 76ers from 2019-21, Simmons has rarely been healthy during his Brooklyn tenure. Simmons has appeared in just 57 games across two-and-a-half seasons of potential action with the team, averaging a scant 6.7 points on 57 percent shooting from the floor and an abysmal 43.1 percent shooting from the foul line, plus 6.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.6 blocks per bout.

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Those numbers represent a far cry from his four healthy seasons in Philadelphia. In his 275 Sixers regular season games (all starts) from 2017-21, Simmons averaged 15.9 points on 56 percent field goal shooting and 59.7 percent charity stripe shooting, 8.1 boards, 7.7 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.7 rejections a night.

The 6-foot-10 forward was also a 2019-20 All-NBA Third Team honoree and a two-time All-Defensive Teamer.

Frustrated after his own horrific playoff performance with Philadelphia in 2021, Simmons was a rare NBA holdout during the subsequent 2021-22 season. He forced his way off the team eventually, when team president Daryl Morey flipped him to the Nets in exchange for 10-time All-Star and 2018 MVP James Harden, who likewise had been angling for his own trade out of town (a frequent demand for Harden).

Whether Simmons, 28, fetches any more than a veteran’s minimum next year remains to be seen, but it does seem quite likely given how his time in Brooklyn has panned out.

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