Ben Simmons’ fall from grace has been one of the more surprising and wild developments in the NBA in recent seasons. Injury has played its role, but it’s hard to deny that Simmons has regressed rapidly in the last few seasons.
At his best, Ben Simmons was a player that could do everything on the court, except shoot. He was a DPOY-level defender, an excellent playmaker, and could drive to the bucket with the best of them. But all of those traits have diminished, making this take from analyst Colin Cowherd in 2018 seems pretty crazy.
“You know I love LeBron — I’ve talked about him incessantly for a decade. I still think he is remarkable. But for the first time in 10 to 12 years, I look at the NBA — which I’ve watched for four decades — and I say this now with Ben Simmons: ‘Hey, LeBron, we’re good, bro. You can go. You don’t have to, you can hang around. Still great. But you can go. We’re all good here.'”
“I never bought into it with Blake Griffin. Despite what he did last night, I’ve never bought into it with Anthony Davis. Russell Westbrook doesn’t drive me to a TV to that level — certainly didn’t when he broke into the league. But when I watch Ben Simmons play — and again, I don’t know if the Sixers are special — it is just a gut feeling. That is something between LeBron and Magic.”
Wow, hadn’t seen this before but this was a WILD hot take
An All-Time HOF hot take lol pic.twitter.com/zYLorb08sM
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) April 10, 2023
If someone covers sports for long enough, they are bound to have truly bad takes, but this might take the cake in terms of the NBA. In the five years since he said this, LeBron James has outperformed Ben Simmons by an astronomical margin. Comparing him to either the King or Magic Johnson seems truly absurd in hindsight.
Ben Simmons Fell Off In An Unbelievable Manner
Looking at it now, this take does seem ridiculous. And while it was out there even then, it wasn’t truly outrageous either. Between 2018 and 2020, Ben Simmons averaged over 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists per game, making two All-Star teams by the age of 23. His shot was expected to develop too, which never happened.
Things are vastly different now, Ben Simmons has been deemed the worst contract in the NBA by some people. The Brooklyn Nets don’t believe in him any longer. While he still believes he can get back to playing at a high level, it’s next to impossible that he will recover his career enough to earn comparisons to LeBron James or Magic Johnson again.
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