Ben Simmons hasn't returned to All-Star form for the Nets.
Ben Simmons may have been deemed as the future face of the league since the 2016 draft, even drawing comparisons to LeBron James on draft night. But its mostly been downhill since then, culminating in a rough time with Brooklyn.
After one of his best seasons in the NBA in the 2020-21 campaign, Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers crashed out in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Atlanta Hawks after a thrilling Game 7. Rather than join the field at the Tokyo Olympics following elimination, Simmons insisted that he stay back and not go help the Boomers, who without Simmons won their first Olympic Medal.
When the Sixers training camp starts after the Olympics, the former Sixers had a bizarre way of shutting down any chances of a long term plan with Sixers, and making sure to let us know before the first game of the season. He didn't arrive the day training camp started and when he did show up, Doc Rivers and Simmons continued to butt heads at practice.Simmons got off to a bad start due to injury set backs. But it didn't stop Sixers GM Elton Brand from trading him.
After a missed opportunity in the 2022 postseason, when Simmons came on the court for the Nets, that competitive drive that he had to best players like Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell for Rookie of the Year that he once had was no longer there. Ramping him up to 65 games for a season is a challenge. The Nets have been forced to adapt to playing without him. Whatever this injury bug is for Simmons, Nets' fans can only hope that it goes away with him entering the final year of his max contract.Ajayi has covered the NBA for several years, most notably covering the league at large for SLAM and the Brooklyn Nets at several outlets before joining Inside the Nets.
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