{"id":769038,"date":"2026-06-30T03:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T03:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769038\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T03:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T03:12:11","slug":"nba-news-2026-ben-simmons-targeting-comeback-stephen-a-smith-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769038\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA news 2026: Ben Simmons targeting comeback; Stephen A Smith reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Simmons<\/a> wants back in.<\/p>\n

Some ten years after being drafted as the No.1 pick to the 76ers<\/a>, the Australian is targeting a comeback to the NBA<\/a> for the upcoming season after the three-time All Star spent a year on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben Simmons.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Simmons, who turns 30 in July, last played with the\u00a0LA Clippers\u00a0in 2024-25. <\/p>\n

He\u00a0told Men\u2019s Health\u00a0he needed to get away from the sport and \u201cfind myself again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI plan on getting as strong as I can physically, getting my ass on the court, and then the team realising that my abilities will be needed,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cI don\u2019t have a plan on where.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Simmons, the No.1 pick in the 2016 draft, said he has spoken to coaches who have told him that he can play again in the NBA if he can get healthy. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I\u2019ll go back to\u00a0Philly,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMiami\u00a0would be nice. And not because it\u2019s Miami. I like Erik Spoelstra, I like the Heat, I like their organisation, I like the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the interview, Simmons was also asked about arguably the most controversial moment of his career, when he chose to hand the ball off to teammate Matisse Thybulle, rather than dunk over a much smaller Trae Young close to the basket in the 2021 eastern conference semi-finals.<\/p>\n

With less than four minutes left in the match and the 76ers down a bucket, Thybulle was fouled on his dunk attempt and missed a free throw, with the Sixers going down and Simmons\u2019 reputation taking a massive hit.<\/p>\n

The Australian was asked about the internal dialogue he had with himself when Thybulle missed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMotherf—-, you knock it down!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben Simmons played for the Clippers the season before last.\u00a0nna\\sworthington<\/p>\n

\u201cI just gave it to somebody who was shooting a higher percentage free throw at the time. So what is the difference?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow about he should\u2019ve made the f—-ng free throws? But he didn\u2019t and it is what it is. That\u2019s still my boy. I love the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Simmons is optimistic about returning to the league, it\u2019s fair to say the news of the Aussie\u2019s potential return did not go over well with sections of America\u2019s media.<\/p>\n

ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith believes he has no place in the NBA, and that\u00a0if he does make a comeback, he should pay a team, rather than the other way around.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Ben Simmons is a basketball abomination,\u201d he said on the Stephen A. Smith Show. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the only player that I have ever witnessed in NBA history, who I believe should pay NBA teams to have him play \u2014 not the other way around.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis brother was literally on the basketball and treated attempting a jump shot as if you had asked him to be on the front lines in Iran or Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith added: \u201cThe biggest waste of talent we have seen in NBA history, if not all of professional sports, in our lifetime. <\/p>\n

\u201cNever has somebody been so damn good \u2014 that good \u2014 and was a waste of space,\u201d Smith concluded.<\/p>\n

The Melbourne-born Simmons has been busy during his time off after he bought into the\u00a0South Florida Sails\u00a0professional fishing team, spending the past eight months fishing in Florida.<\/p>\n

If he can get on the court, Simmons would be available to play for the Boomers at 2027 FIBA\u00a0Men\u2019s World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games <\/a>in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

But since he\u2019s only ever played for Australia once as a 17-year-old on debut against New Zealand in 2013, there\u2019s a level of uncertainty around his place in the Australian team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for Ben\u2019s relationship with the Boomers<\/a>, from what I understand, there\u2019s a bit of history there,\u201d Hawks and Boomers big man Jock Landale told the\u00a0Dyl & Friends podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t involved back then, and I don\u2019t hold any judgment towards it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would\u2019ve loved to have had him along many times. I don\u2019t know where he sits with basketball right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see him working out every now and again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s one of those things where we\u2019d love to have him if he\u2019s ready to go, healthy, mentally in a good spot and willing, like everyone else, to buy into the Boomers culture. But if not, no hard feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could\u2019ve helped us a lot at times. It would\u2019ve been cool to come home with a few more medals with his help.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s reality. We\u2019re not going to beg.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got this thing where if you want to be a part of it, you\u2019re there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just that simple. The invite\u2019s there. The invite\u2019s always there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Simmons wants back in. Some ten years after being drafted as the No.1 pick to the 76ers,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-769038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}