A Retrospective With Former Brooklyn Net Ben Simmons Reportedly Considering Retirement

Adding to his up-and-down offseason, NBA insider Marc Stein reported that Simmons’ former agent, Bernie Lee, formally notified the NBPA that he would no longer be representing him.

After starting the 2024-2025 season with Brooklyn, he closed out the season with the LA Clippers, where he appeared in 17 games while averaging 2.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 43.4% from the field.

A Look at His Time in Brooklyn

Despite earning three consecutive NBA All-Star nods while being active with the Philadelphia 76ers, Simmons' career was already facing a great deal of uncertainty upon arriving in Brooklyn.

After missing the 2021-2022 season due to a mix of mental health reasons, Simmons finally returned to the court in October of 2022, but was a shell of his old self. After appearing in just 42 games during his first season in Brooklyn, Simmons was forced to shut his season down after suffering a nerve impingement in his back.

To continue his string of absences/injuries, Simmons missed the first 38 games of the 2023-2024 season before another nerve impingement ended his season prematurely again. Overall, Simmons appeared in just 90 games through two and a half seasons in Brooklyn.

Although Simmons has faced heavy criticism in recent years, Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez continued to back him with positivity.

“A healthy Ben Simmons is a very, very good player — that’s what I focus on,” Fernandez told the New York Post. “I don’t have social media. I know that at the end of the day, social media brings the worst out of people, because if you want to be heard you have to say something negative. And always one negative trumps 10 positives. [But] I’m happy with where Ben is, how he’s showing up every day.”

Overall, Simmons totaled averages of 6.5 points, 6.3 assists and 6.2 rebounds per game throughout his time with the team. His best season with the Nets came during the 2022-2023 season, when he averaged 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game while appearing in 42 games and shooting 56.6% from the field.