In this article, we will learn about the basketball career of one of the best basketball players in the world, Ben Simmons.
Ben Simmons is an Australian professional basketball player who was born in Melbourne, Australia, on July 20, 1996. He is renowned for his versatility, having played several positions, and for his ability to both create plays on offense and defend.
In 2019, 2020, and 2021, he was selected to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference All-Star squad.
Early Life
Australia’s Melbourne is the birthplace of Simmons. In order to play in Australia’s National Basketball League (1989–2001), his father, Dave Simmons, relocated from the United States.
It was there that he met and wed Julie Tribe, who had four children from a prior marriage. Ben and his sister Olivia Simmons were also part of the family that moved to Newcastle, New South Wales.
Ben Simmons was a gifted basketball player who took up the game at an early age. He competed for Australia at the 2012 Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur (FIBA) U-17 World Championship, where the team finished second.
Later, he relocated to the US to attend Montverde (Florida) Academy, a private high school renowned for its productive basketball program.
There, from 2013 to 2015, he guided the school to three straight national high school titles and rose to prominence as one of the nation’s top prospects for college basketball recruiters.
The 6-foot 10-inch (2.08-meter) Simmons attended Louisiana State University (LSU) on a basketball scholarship after graduating from the academy in 2015.
In his first campaign, he scored 19.2 points and pulled down 11.8 rebounds per game, good for an average double-double. He decided to declare for the 2016 NBA draft at the end of the season, and the Philadelphia 76ers selected him as the first overall choice.
Early NBA Career
Simmons did not play in the NBA in the 2016–17 season due to a foot ailment. He did, however, have an instant impact the next season, helping Philadelphia advance to the NBA playoffs with a 52–30 record—a 24-win improvement over the previous campaign.
The Boston Celtics defeated the 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals after they had progressed that far. In addition to averaging 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 8.2 assists that season, Simmons, who was predominantly a point guard, led the league in total assists (661) and field-goal percentage (.545). Following the 2017–18 campaign, Simmons was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year.
Philadelphia made it back to the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2018–19, but the team was defeated by the Toronto Raptors despite Simmons’ contribution. With 610 assists this season, he once again ranked third in the NBA in assists overall.
With averages of 16.9 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, he also showed growth in those areas. Simmons demonstrated his defensive prowess in 2019–20.
He tied for first place in the NBA that season in loose balls recovered per game (1.7) and led the league in steals per game (2.1).
His selection to the NBA All-Defensive first team was aided by such stats. That season, Simmons also switched from point guard to power forward.
Mid-NBA Career
Later on, he also observed time at the facility. When Joel Embiid, the starting center for the 76ers, was injured in a game against the Utah Jazz in February 2021, Simmons filled in for Embiid in the post and scored a career-high 42 points.
For the third straight season, Simmons was selected to the NBA All-Star team for the Eastern Conference in the same month.
But after the 76ers’ defeat in the second round of the playoffs, several called attention to Simmons’s poor offensive performance, focusing especially on his inability to make three-pointers.
He requested a trade during the offseason and never returned to play for Philadelphia. The 76ers traded him to the Brooklyn Nets in February 2022.
Simmons missed the rest of the 2021–22 season because of back problems. He came back the next season, and in October 2022, he played his first preseason game with the Nets.
Ben played in just 42 regular-season games, averaging less than 7 points per game, as his injuries persisted to be a problem. Even though the team lost in the opening round, Brooklyn was still eligible for the playoffs.
