Ben Simmons, 29 years old, the No. 1 pick in 2016, may be retiring.

Unexpected, reasonable. 29 is a good age to struggle. The golden age of NBA stars. At the critical moment of competing for the second major contract in their career, Simmons took the $200 million he earned in the NBA and was flat.

NBA people come and go, and many talented stars are short-lived, but Simmons' fall is still jaw-dropping, just like the Titanic, the "miracle of world industry" that the public thinks is at its peak. It sank into the cold sea water of the North Atlantic just a few days.

Back in 2016, Simmons was also a miracle in basketball history. He seemed to have a size comparable to James, more skilled basic skills, and an equally excellent basketball IQ. He was selected by the 76ers as the No. 1 pick in 2016 and missed his first season due to injury. His comeback in 2017 was like a tiger pounding, averaging 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Except for not shooting three-pointers, it was almost perfect.

He is only 21 years old and his growth space is unimaginable. According to people's inference, when others of the same age are still thinking about how to enter the All-Star, Simmons can figure out how to write the Hall of Fame speech in a funny and humorous way.

But the most amazing start and ending in NBA history has appeared. Simmons is at its peak when he debuted, but he has not been able to continue his peak for a long time. It took 4 days from the time the Titanic set sail to hit the iceberg; Simmons stretched the timeline and took 4 seasons.

In the 2021-22 season, Simmons was traded by 76ers to the Nets. He missed the entire season due to mental illness and back injury. In the following four seasons, including the Nets' contract bought out by the Nets in 2025 and joining the Clippers, he played a total of 159 games, an average of less than 40 games per season.

In May 2022, Simmons underwent a microdiscectomy; in March 2024, he had another similar operation.

Former NBA player Jeff Teague said that everything is over and he can no longer run, and he is indeed injured; Clippers head coach Lu, who brought Simmons last season, said that Simmons is not easy, his back injury has not healed and his knee has also been injured.

In short, Simmons was injured.

Still some people want to take a gamble. In September, the Knicks gave Simmons a veteran's basic salary, but he refused without even talking. Then, his agent Bernie Lee announced his termination of the contract.

Bernie-Lee is still a chess game, and someone ran away earlier.

Bernie Lee, his biggest client in the NBA is Jimmy Butler. A few months ago, Li Gang broke up with the shams for Butler's trading rumors

Simmons decided to participate in the draft, Ritchie Paul spent a lot of effort, running various relationships, and also pulled James's banner to be a tiger skin, so he became Simmons' agent. Paul also tried his best for Simmons, and helped him sign a five-year, $170 million contract, and forced the 76ers to make a deal under pressure. When he arrived at the Nets, he triggered negotiations from all parties, so that Simmons could make money while lying down.

But in 2023, two years have left before Simmons' five-year, $170 million maximum salary contract ended, and Paul incredibly "partitions of friendship agreement" with Simmons.

There is nothing more sorrow than death in the heart.

And earlier on June 20, 2021, Simmons had "death in career".

That day was the 7th game of the Eastern Conference semi-finals, with the 76ers vs. the Hawks at home. They lost Game 5 at home, Simmons made 2 of 4 shots, 4 of 14 free throws, and scored 8 points; they won Game 6 away, Simmons made 2 of 6 shots, 2 of 4 free throws, and scored 6 points.

was still in the epidemic at the time. According to NBA regulations, players who were close to those infected with the new crown could not play. A female masseur of 76ers is suspected of COVID-19, and the team is investigating people who are close contact with her. In fact, such regulations are a formality in the key battle of tiebreak seven. The person in charge of this matter asked several players if they had seen this female masseuse. No matter whether they met or not, everyone said they had never seen it.

Only Simmons was particularly frank, "I've seen it."

So, less than ten hours before the tiebreak, Simmons received a notice and was temporarily prohibited from playing.

Simmons was very aggrieved. He sent messages to Sean and several teammates that the team would not allow him to participate in shooting training and would not let him play.

The teammates were very suspicious. They felt that Simmons had probably never seen the masseuse. He just didn't want to play because he was panicked and dared not shoot.

Their reasons are also very good. Simmons scored 35 free throws in the first 6 games with the Hawks, scoring only 14, with a 40% shooting percentage. He doesn't want to go to free throws anymore.

Both sides were very distressed. Before the game, Simmons and the masseuse's nucleic acid test results were all out, all negative, and he can play.

Then, the most painful moment comes.

3 minutes and 35 seconds left, and the 76ers were 2 points behind. Simmons received the ball from the right side of the basket. He swung past Hawks forward Gallinari, only more than 1 meter away from the basket, and there was no one around him. Only Trae Young, who was defending Seble on the other side of the baseline, came over quickly, but he didn't stretch his hand, which was just a gesture of doing things.

Simmons can dunk directly, and Trey Young, who is more than 20 centimeters shorter than him, can't stop him at all. It's very likely that he will have 2+1, and the worst is 2 free throws.

But Simmons chose to pass the ball.

Seble, who received the pass, looked surprised and could only dunk. He was fouled by Collins, who made up for it, and made 1 of 2 free throws.

54 seconds left, Simmons was substituted and he never played again, which was his last game for the Sixers.

Rivers and Embiid questioned after the game and stabbed Simmons in the back. Rivers said "I don't know" when asked if he could win the championship with Simmons; Embiid said the turning point of the game, "a ball that is unguarded can be shot, but it ends up being 1 of 2 free throws."

No one understands why Simmons is unwilling to shoot.

Just entered the league, he just couldn't shoot three-pointers. In the regular season of the first two seasons, he shot 17 three-pointers in total, but no one of them was scored. Gradually, his shooting number also decreased. In the regular season of the 2020-21 season, he averaged only 10.1 shots per game, most of which were layups or dunks, while in the playoffs, he averaged only 7.9 shots per game.

We have no way to explain this problem from a technical level. Either they are simple and crude, label him a "soft egg" and say he is afraid; or they are calm and say he may have some psychological problems and hesitation.

In short, Simmons is sick.

There is another story about Simmons' mental illness in almost the same time period.

In March 2021, Simmons gave an Audi A8 to his half-brother Sean as a birthday gift and also broadcasted live on a social platform. The 35-year-old Sean was so moved that she burst into tears.

A month later, Simmons' sister Olivia attacked on Twitter, complaining about Sean's sexual assault on her when she was 8 years old. The evidence given was her "flashback psychology" and mental medical records, and emphasized, "Don't think that you have money to solve everything."

Simmons, Sean, Oliveira

Simmons has 5 siblings, Dave, her father, is an American, and she also plays basketball. She met and got married in Australia with Simmons' mother Julie. At that time, Julie was single but had 4 children. Then, Dave and Julie had two more children, namely Simmons and Olivia.

Simmons cares about this big family very much and has a good relationship with his siblings. Sean is Simmons' half-brother and his assistant in life. He usually lives together, while Simmons' other half-brother, Liam, is his shooting coach.

Simmons and his family

, but among them, Olivia and Simmons had a fight. Just after Simmons was elected as the No. 1 pick and received a contract of tens of millions of dollars, she tweeted and criticized that Simmons was the money tree at home, and it was unmannerable, and everyone still had to hold him. These words annoyed Simmons and unfollowed Olivia with rare unfollowing. But after all, he was his own sister, and he was the sister who was diagnosed with depression and manic depression, and the two sides later reconciled. Olivia can continue to spend Simmons' money.

Olivia mocked her brother for leaving it alone, but said that her brother's sexual assault was a big deal. Just when Simmons was playing in the playoffs, Sean sued her in court. The palms and backs of hands are all flesh. Simmons is in pain and can only say thank you to his teammates for your support. Please stop talking.

In the end, the court ruled that Sean won the case, and Olivia paid $550,000 in compensation, including Sean's appeal fee. No one knows whether this money is compensated or not.

Does Olivia's depression just exist?

In April 2022, Paul was also Simmons' agent, and he pulled Simmons to negotiate with the Nets' management. Simmons told everyone that he had a mental disorder, which in turn affected his back problems. Training might look fine, but there would be psychological shadows that would cause back spasms as long as he was on the court.

The Nets are not sure what they think, but under Paul's persuasion, they accepted this reason and no longer forced Simmons to make a comeback.

By September 2022, in Redick's podcast, Simmons further elaborated on his psychological disorder, all of which were the sequelae of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals tiebreak, because he did not get enough help from the 76ers, which made him seem to enter the "dark space" and unable to get out.

Simmons' mental illness, what exactly is it?

In 2022, many people believed that he had ippo syndrome (the patient will have unconscious muscle contractions). In 2017, the No. 1 pick, Su Fultz, was once considered to have ippo syndrome, but later diagnosed with neuropathic thoracic export syndrome. However, Simmons never had unconscious muscle contractions in public.

A fan with depression compared his personal experience with Simmons and believed that they had the same situation, but was criticized by several fans who also had depression. First, the condition of each depression patient is different, and second, depression requires psychological treatment and should not continue playing basketball.

But no matter which disease, there is a question that cannot be avoided. Is shooting really that difficult?

Every summer, Simmons will show his own training videos and shoot a few three-pointers in the open training hall, but when the game is over, it seems like he has forgotten these moves, so it gradually evolves into the NBA version of "Wolf is Coming".

Simmons is not not working hard. He likes to pass the ball, is willing to defend, and is involved in rebounding with his muscles and sticks, and these are not easier than shooting in the eyes of professionals.

We can barely draw a conclusion that passing, defending and rebounding are Simmons' comfort zone, and he can endure hardships, but he can only endure the hardships he is used to, which is what we often call path dependence. However, times have changed, and players without shooting ability have gradually become targets on the court.

What should I do if I can’t get out of my comfort zone? Escape is shameful but useful - this probably understands Simmons' performance in recent years. He is always escaping, escaping first, and if he has to play, he hides in his comfort zone and continues to play with the old methods.

If it was twenty or thirty years ago, everyone would not shoot three-pointers, Simmons might continue to be active on the court. It is possible that he can still be a tough guy. There will be neither a sustainable back injury nor a looming psychological illness..

What about now? If Simmons can't board the ship of the new era, then hold 200 million US dollars and sink to the bottom of the sea with the old era.

Think about it, it's not impossible...

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(text/Lao Pan)