Getty Ben Simmons of the Brooklyn Nets.
Uncertainty surrounds former Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons, and Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett urged Simmons, who missed all of last season and most of this season, to do some soul searching.
“Ben Simmons, man, if you’re listening, I want you to go back and find your roots. Go back and find why you love playing the game. You got a lot to give to the game, bro,” Garnett said on the April 2 episode of his “Ticket & the Truth” show. “If your heart ain’t in it, it is what it is. I hate to say that. I think he got another run in him, but it’s going to have to be Ben Simmons, bro. It’s going to have to be him.”
Garnett praised Simmons’ potential, saying that he can still reach a new level as a player and that it’s up to him to do it.
“I wanna see the dude get back to killing, man. We ain’t even see Ben Simmons with the [jumper]! We ain’t see if Ben Simmons two dribble, pull up, left for high, off the glass, like, he got [another] whole f****** level. It hurt me to see them shut him down, but he gotta come back and he gotta give us something.”
Simmons last played for his current team, the Brooklyn Nets, on February 15, then was confirmed to be out for the rest of the season due to nerve impingement in his back.
“I want you go back and find your roots. Go back and find why you love playing the game… There’s Melo, Cousins at home, Dwight. There’s n— at home that could be in the league. If your heart ain’t in it, it is what it is.”
Kevin Garnett on Ben Simmons 🗣️
Garnett also played for the Nets from 2013 to 2015 but built his legacy with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics before being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.
Richard Jefferson’s Message to Ben Simmons
After it had been reported that Simmons would miss the rest of the season, former NBA player Richard Jefferson gave his thoughts on Simmons, saying that he knows plenty of players who have had the talent that Simmons had who moved on because it was for the best.
“We’ve seen players with all the talent in the world not make it,” Jefferson said on the March 28 episode of ESPN’s “NBA Today”. “We’ve seen players with all the talent in the world decide to just move on and step away from the game. So, when I look at this situation with Ben Simmons, yeah, we root for every player. I have not met a player that I don’t root for the best. But, when you ask me about Ben Simmons, I know a lot of guys like that. Because this is what we do. This is what we’ve done. I wasn’t the best player on my AAU team. I wasn’t the best player on my college team. A lot of guys don’t make it out.”
Agent Says Ben Simmons Should Be Ready for Training Camp
Simmons’ new agent, Bernie Lee, told Ian Begley of SNY on March 28 that both he and Simmons have “every expectation that Ben will be a Day One participant when camp begins next year without restrictions or issues.”
Lee added that the path they are taking from here is not only ensuring that he’ll be healthy for the start of next season but also for him to play at the high level he had been playing when he was an All-Star from 2018 to 2021.
“Ben’s process of seeking out the information of what’s going on has been a very lock-in-step effort with the Nets to clearly get an understanding of how to give (him) the opportunity to not only get healthy, but also his best path to long-term sustainable health, which allows him to regularly participate and play at the highest levels – something he has done since he entered the NBA,” Lee said.