the latest episode of their podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn it, Kellerman spoke with Paul about the subject of athletes who have not lived up to their potential, with Simmons being a prime example.<\/p>\n
Ben Simmons walks on stage after being drafted first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. (Photo by Mike Stobe\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
But Paul, one of the most powerful agents in the NBA, challenged Kellerman and Simmons\u2019 critics more broadly on their assertion that his career should be deemed a failure.<\/p>\n
In a particularly telling comment, Paul hinted that unlike other athletes in the NBA and across professional sports in general, Simmons didn\u2019t necessarily have dreams of winning championships. <\/p>\n
\u201cEither you love what the game brings you or you love the game,\u201d as Paul put it.<\/p>\n
But in the broader context of the conversation shared between the pair, it was clear Paul was saying as much not from a position of judging Simmons for his attitude towards the sport but was instead trying to explain the difference in the perception of a player\u2019s legacy and what their ultimate goals may be.<\/p>\n
Injuries derailed Simmons\u2019 career. Mike Lawrie\/Getty Images\/AFPSource: AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything that Ben wanted to happen for Ben happened for Ben,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the number one pick in the draft, he was the Rookie of the Year, he was a perennial All-Star, he was All-NBA and he got the max contract… there\u2019s two ways to go about this.<\/p>\n
\u201cEither, you love what the game brings you or you love the game and when you play this game for so long as a kid and most kids don\u2019t say, \u2018I want to get to the NBA and I want to be great in the NBA for 15 years\u2019. No, they dream of making it to the NBA.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, you\u2019re going up that mountain and some guys get up that mountain and (are) saying, \u2018(exhales) I made it\u2019… some guys get there and it\u2019s like, \u2018Good. I got up there. Now I\u2019m going to go back down\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome guys and (are) like, \u2018OK, now I want to go higher\u2019 and that\u2019s the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Paul went on to point out, Simmons got to the mountain \u201cquick\u201d too. \u201cEverything was fast,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Giddey’s Bulls brawl after Giannis dunk | 00:40<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t necessarily a championship, but the individual accolades were swift to come Simmons\u2019 way after an injury-interrupted rookie season.<\/p>\n
Still, for all that Simmons achieved it still felt like he could have been so much more, and the consistent back injuries and mental health issues the Australian has battled over the years make it difficult to assess just what that could have looked like.<\/p>\n
To that effect, as Kellerman noted, there are still people out there \u2014 including himself \u2014 who will remember Simmons as a \u201cwaste of talent\u201d.<\/p>\n
To that, Paul pointed to a disconnect which is often at the heart of the Simmons debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s you as a fan wanting more for you. We don\u2019t know what he wanted for him,\u201d Paul said. <\/p>\n
Kellerman later added that if he were the 76ers he would have drafted Simmons not wanting him to turn out the way he did, declaring: \u201cYou want him to be like LeBron James\u201d.<\/p>\n
The LeBron comparisons followed Simmons around throughout his career. Even before he was drafted, Magic Johnson was calling the Australian the \u201cbest all round player I\u2019ve seen\u201d since the Lakers superstar.<\/p>\n
Paul, however, isn\u2019t a fan of such comparisons.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee, what we do in sports is we say, \u2018Oh, Ben Simmons needs to be like this person\u2019. No, Ben Simmons needs to be like Ben Simmons,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
Paul, who was Simmons\u2019 agent from the moment he was drafted until the Australian parted ways with him in 2023, later admitted if it was up to him he wanted the former No.1 pick to have a \u201c20-year career\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was that good,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you can\u2019t necessarily ignore some of the things that took place. You\u2019re talking purely from a talent perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
From his \u201cilluminating\u201d conversation with Paul, however, Kellerman came to the conclusion that Simmons\u2019 career \u201cdied\u201d because he didn\u2019t have that same competitive, championship-or-bust mentality that so many of the great NBA players have.<\/p>\n
Jokic down with suspected Knee injury | 00:12<\/p>\n
\u201cBen Simmons\u2019 career at a certain point died, and what I\u2019m saying is the reason it died, I think, based on our conversation which I find illuminating, is because his mountain was not the mountain you want your best player to have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Whether Simmons returns to the NBA remains to be seen, with Paul telling Kellerman he is still leaving the book \u201copen\u201d for the Australian\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
And while Paul\u2019s conversation with Kellerman illustrated just how sensitive he is to his individual client\u2019s needs and desires, the powerful agent also lifted the lid on one conversation he had with Simmons that proved even he could see there was more left in the Australian.<\/p>\n
In it, Paul said he told Simmons he had \u201cso much left in the tank\u201d and that even if he just became a pick-and-roll five at the end of games, he could make $30 million because of his unique skillset.<\/p>\n
Simmons told The Athletic he is targeting a comeback as early as the second half of this season, or could wait for the 2026-27 campaign. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Simmons\u2019 former agent Rich Paul has offered a candid insight into the Australian\u2019s fall from grace, both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-381505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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