Ben Simmons' professional basketball career did not get off to an ideal start. He missed his entire rookie season after fracturing one of the metatarsal bones in his right foot just three months after the Philadelphia 76ers took him No. 1 overall in the 2016 NBA Draft.
But then, things started to click. Simmons was named the league's Rookie of the Year for the 2017-18 season, beating out every player in that year's draft class. He has been selected to play in three All-Star games, in addition to making the All-NBA Defensive Team twice.
Yet it seems that Simmons still has yet to live up to his billing as a former top-end lottery pick. After he held out for much of the 2021-22 season, the 76ers traded him to the Brooklyn Nets; Simmons was later waived by the Nets in February of this year and signed a contract with the Los Angeles Clippers for the remainder of the season.
SNY's David Vertsberger believes Simmons could join his third team in a little over one year this fall by signing with the New York Knicks on a league-minimum contract.
"According to ClutchPoints’s Brett Siegel, the Knicks are favorites to land Simmons... Unfortunately, fans expecting that level of production are likely to be disappointed, as Simmons hasn’t been the same since his back issues and holdout season," Vertsberger wrote. "In fact, he hasn’t been a fraction of his former effectiveness. In his three seasons since, Simmons hasn’t eclipsed 51 games played or seven points per game in those games, totaling twice as many turnovers as free throws."
Vertsberger acknowledged that Simmons' physical decline has been apparent in recent seasons but considers the 2020 All-NBA Third Teamer to have the "the highest upside and biggest frame" compared to other players available on the free agent market, such as Russell Westbrook, Landry Shamet and Malcolm Brogdon.
"He can screen and make connective plays from there, a tantalizing prospect under Mike Brown's Domantas Sabonis playbook — but this and some decent defense won’t make him anything more than a spot minutes specialist."
In 51 regular-season games for the Nets and Clippers last season, Simmons averaged 22.0 minutes played, 5.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game.