Ben Simmons eyes NBA comeback and contemplates a return to the Sixers: ‘Maybe I’ll go back to Philly’
Simmons was a three-time All-Star and averaged 15.9 points per game in four seasons with the Sixers, but left Philly under very negative circumstances.
Could Mike Gansey’s first veteran roster addition be the return of an old friend?
In a new Men’s Health story, Ben Simmons said he’s eyeing an NBA return after a year away.
“I plan on getting as strong as I can physically, getting my ass on the court, and then the team realizing that my abilities will be needed,” he said.
Simmons spent his most recent NBA season of 2024-25 with the Nets and later the Clippers, playing 51 games and averaging five points, 5.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. Simmons has been hampered by various injuries, including a nerve impingement in his back.
Over the last year, Simmons stepped away from basketball, instead spending some of his time off winning a professional fishing tournament with the South Florida Sails, a team of which he is also part owner.
But now, feeling healthier, the 29-year-old Simmons hopes to launch an NBA comeback. With his size and basketball IQ, Simmons said coaches told him that if he got healthy there would be plenty of interest from teams.
“I don’t have a plan on where,” Simmons told Men’s Health, but he had a few spots in mind.
“Maybe I’ll go back to Philly,” he said. “Miami would be nice. And not because it’s Miami — I like Erik Spoelstra, I like the Heat, I like their organization, I like the culture.”
Simmons’ breakup with the Sixers in 2022 was messy. The three-time NBA All-Star refused to play for the team after the second-round playoff loss to the Atlanta Hawks in 2021, and was ultimately traded for James Harden. Would he even be welcomed back?
Simmons famously feuded with center Joel Embiid before he was dealt to the Nets in the middle of the 2021-22 season.
“The situation is weird, disappointing, borderline kind of disrespectful to all the guys that are out here fighting for their lives,” Embiid said back in 2021 training camp of Simmons’ refusal to play for the Sixers. “Some guys rely on the team being successful to stay in the league and make money somehow. Because if you’re on a winning team, you’re always going to have a spot in the league, just because you’re on a winning team and you contributed.”
But it’s been four years, and if Simmons is healthy he could be a depth piece for a capped-out Sixers team in need of help off the bench.
