Ben Simmons is putting the NBA on hold to pursue a successful career in pro fishing per Marc Spears
Source : https://andscape.com/features/ben-simmons-nba/
I think the NBA put Ben Simmons on hold. Not the other way around.
“You can’t fire me, I quit!”
Ben quit long before he was fired
The OG quiet quitter
Another no show anti-work king
Young socialite
he got so mad when people would chirp him every day on the street in center city
what a fucking embarrassment
You wouldn’t?
He was in the NBA collecting unemployment check.
“Who do you think I am, you are!”
i understand this reference
Multiple teams wanted him, teams offered him a contract, it was minimum and Simmons is not even good anymore but still he can defend, rebound, pass and for a minimum that’s more than enough
His body is just done, people wanna talk shit about his career but a back injury like that at 6’10 is debilitating
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1nbsbgd/stein_ben_simmons_rejected_the_knicks_veteran/
As someone that has had severe back issues, I really empathize with the guy
Wish I had his wallet— but there isn’t really a price you can put on chronic pain
I dunno the Army sure seemed to put a damn price on mine.
Do they at least give you enough meds?
Or do they use the fentanyl crisis as an excuse?
I had to almost die after an 11 level spinal fusion before getting actual pain meds.
I wish I knew how to go to graduate school on Marijuana but I was never cool enough to know which drugs are good
From 03 to 17 I was on way too many meds to be honest. At points I had 3 fent patches on at at a total of 225 u/gh, then there was also 10 norco, 2-4 morphine sulphates, Ambien, Flexeril, Neurontin and nortriptyline. Those were the main ones, lots of other things floated through treatment cycles with diff docs. Sadly my fusion was/is a failure, and I have the added joy of an abdominal gunshot wound so front and back Im truly fucked, honestly I laugh about it these days, cant do much more.
Holy shit. Sorry you have to go through all that.
Jeez dude, did the gunshot happen after the back stuff??
damn man, I’m sorry
Fans are just absolute idiots, at a point i kinda want to wish that pain on people who talk shit because they just have zero empathy and they deserve it
When the guy injured his back he was literally vomiting in pain and the nerve issues that he has are just so bad for the average person let alone a large 6’10 human who tries to play NBA level basketball
There were even so many fans who were saying he was faking that injury in Philly
You’re absolutely right but this place is basically an extension of nba circlejerk, your shit will fall on deaf ears.
It’s not just reddit, Simmons hate was all over social media and IRL too, the guy was legit hated, i get the trade request and holdout was bad but that was all after the back injury and being thrown under the bus
Simmons was not a perfect player, he didn’t handle the situation well but the injury truly fucked him as a player, it doesn’t just ruin your physically, it ruins you mentally as well and many players have talked about that
But fans are biased and stupid so
As someone who herniated two discs at a young and healthy age of 26 (I’m 6’1, 180 pounds for reference, in my 30s) I feel so bad for him lol. It’s one of the reasons I never really clowned him. Back injuries are the most painful injuries — mentally and physically.
Fans judged Simmons on what they saw when he played.
Come on, when he came back, he didn’t play like that because of the injury.
He played like that because he lost all confidence and his ceiling had never been that high anyway.
There is an easy way to figure out why he really quite (i.e. because of an injury or just, you know…): the contracts he signed and how much he demanded. A player who is badly injured and believes he won’t be able to play most of the season because of injuries doesn’t make unrealistic demands. They secure a bag, but they know how much they can’t ask for. Not Ben Simmons.
3 back surgeries, including an artificial disc replacement - I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I’m a desk jockey and I still needed to take a year off work to do PT basically full time in order to really put the pain behind me.
Whoever recommended a discectomy for a 25 year old should be thrown in jail. I have 3 herniated discs and through a commitment to physical therapy I’m basically pain free. This surgery should’ve been a last resort. For someone in their 60s.
I had one at 25, but I had a severely pinched nerve and epidurals and PT weren’t enough.
I also had urination problems for years, but nobody thought to check because what 20 year old would have that problem?
Tbf, I have an extra bone in my feet that collapsed the arches and a history of back problems in several uncles and aunts.
I’m thankful people like you are on reddit, it’s what convinced me ultimately to try and exhaust every possible avenue from yoga and calisthenics to daily 15 minute targeted stretching. I’m still extremely active and I have pain every now and then but overall it’s been a very positive journey.
I am 6’4 and while I don’t suffer from chronic back pain, I really feel for how vulnerable one’s back is at those heights is or can be. And I am not even an athlete.
Plus my mom has chronic back issues since her own birth, so I have seen first hand experience of that anyway.
Wouldn’t be surprised if back issues are the number one nursed with minor medicaments during a player’s career/season.
His back is the reason he is done, but even as someone who empathizes with him and wanted him to be good for the Clippers, the skills you mentioned still didn’t make him playable, particularly in the playoffs.
He played 42 minutes over 5 games for the Clippers in the playoffs. He had 4 points (on 6 shots), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, and 11 personal fouls.
Now go do other minimum players and tell us their stats, they don’t even get playing time, give me Patty Mills stats who was a minimum for the Clippers
Simmons isn’t good but for regular season again multiple teams offered him because he can be helpful as much as a minimum guy can be
Nobody is expecting Simmons to drop 15/10/10 on a fucked back and a minimum contract
He was definitely at the end of his career but the stats don’t tell the whole story. He was put in for defense and spent plenty of time guarding joker.
I had multiple back surgeries, the nerves were getting crushed badly.
Then an ESBL infection that has a fatality rate up to 70%.
I still can’t pee properly but I guess its better than a catheter.
But threads like this always remind me that I would not get sympathy from people.
Reddit doesn’t want people using “rɛt@rd3d” but people here really enjoy that word.
Ehh, on a vet minimum, Simmons is actually a fine contract if you just need defense off the bench.
Nah he’s like Bronny, opponents don’t guard him closely so it’s as if you’re playing 4 on 5 on offense
I wish I got paid $30 million+ to do nothing
This post is bait.
Yea, something’s fishy about this
🤔Something is REAL 🐠 🐟 🎣 🐟🐠 going on
Caught my attention.
Really reels you in
I confess to being lured in by the headline.
Not sure what it’s angling for
It got me hook, line, and sinker.
Holy mackerel, what a story!
WE GOT WEIGHTS
The greatest quote in the history of fishing
he’s been over the NBA for a while. good for him
Yes there’s no point for Spears to put this out lol
This is bait. He’s buying a fishing team/franchise, not competing himself
So you’re saying as usual he won’t be doing much of anything himself
Simmons does not gut his own fish.
You wouldn’t either if you were a young socialite
I see what you did there
There’s a lot to tackle there
OP really reeled us in with the headline
I woulda gone with “lured us in” but ill allow it
Hate the way people cast Simmons as some kind of bottom feeder. He’ll be a big fish in a small pond with the new venture but basketball doesn’t have to be his only dream, there’s a lot of fish in the sea so to speak
and he’s looking to come back “Possibly in the second half of this season” which isn’t even that far away. Basically just fishing for the right opportunity to bite.
TIL there are fishing teams
Yeah, there is a tv channel in my cable package that shows a ton of tournaments of it
We’ve got weights in fish
He tryin’ to get Lana Del Rey.
Deep cut
Explain
Lana married a grizzly old boat captain/alligator tour guide. She seems to like a guy who spends his time on the water.
Or in prison. That prison photo is so damn funny
She sure does have interesting taste in men, I’ll give her that.
s/o jack donoghue
LEMON!
How did they meet? I bet the guy looks good. Won’t even google it.
Pretty sure they met on one of his alligator boat tours in Louisiana. As for his looks, all I’ll say is that I’ve certainly found less attractive people charming for their personality. Some people are just magnetic, despite how they look on the outside. Speaking from experience as someone who got to watch their father’s marriage get obliterated by a crusty boat captain.
Oh, he looks like a true redneck lol. I wonder how he pulled it off.
Here ya go, I’ll save you the time
He looks good if you’re into blue collar southern men with working hands who do alligator tours on the Bayou
That’s my fetish
Fuck I’m cooked
I thought this was about lana rhoades
Mr. Bass Catcher
Mr. Boat Captain
Well he better get in line
He gunna need to go see whomever made Michael Jackson into a White Chick then.
Does anyone give him a shot after this? He wasn’t playing the best when he was playing and I doubt he’s going to be practicing as often while fishing, I think this might be the end for him honestly
Its possible. If it is, he’s made more than enough money to never have to work again.
Yeah I hope whatever he does he’s happy doing it
Seems like he enjoys fishing.
He’ll cast, but he makes his buddy reel the fish in for him
Where did you get that idea
One could argue he didn’t work all that much before.
I mean he could’ve signed a min with the knicks this off season but he declined.
I wasn’t actually aware of that
It’s clearly the end for him. He’s moved on, not that he had much of a choice but he’s clearly come to acceptance with it. Not like he needs any more money for literally anything.
He does say in the article that he’s getting in shape, rehabbing and getting himself right to play but sees no point in rushing back just to take a roster spot from someone who deserves it. Sounds like he thinks he can be an end of bench guy and is working on getting better than that, but won’t come back unless he’s very confident he will be a solid role player again and we all know it isn’t super likely. I think his perspective he shared is very mature.
Did his back injury just permanently make him toast? Prior to the injury he was large, athletic, and a great defender. I figured he’d still have a market even though he was allergic to scoring.
Yeah it did, that and “allergic to scoring” is a lot less palatable today than it was in 2016.
Back injuries are no joke. Younger people tend to overlook them because they can’t see them. So yes, his back injury probably played a very large part in it.
I wouldn’t mind getting him on our team, since we have no PG currently. He can’t be worse than nothing, right? Right??
If you passed the ball to a wide-open person under the net that wasn’t actually there, they’d shoot as often as Simmons.
It might be good for him basketball wise to just recover his body and clear his head a bit
Or he could just be done with basketball, which is also fair
Might? It’s over lol
Ben Simmons doesn’t like playing basketball for $30 million dollars so he definitely wasn’t gonna play for the minimum. He’ll try to make a comeback when he needs more money.
Good for him. Live your best life
https://youtu.be/lWccb-9CmRw?si=ECfM8nLDRNNqqgQ9
Knicks offered him a minimum deal. Ben rejected it, and was questioning if he even wanted to be in the NBA. Wanted more money offer to reconsider
I think he’s done
Someone post the video of him throwing a fish back into the water and missing
Here’s a short! yessir…
Fucking hell I thought he was joking.
oh my god
Lol unreal. I think this was during the nba bubble
The jokes really do write themselves lmaoooo
Are we all seeing the same video? Looks like the fish squirms around and he drops it, doesn’t look like a throw
If you miss a shot because you fumble the basketball mid-shot, it doesn’t make it any better
Dafuq? It was a layup!
EAZY
I wanna see the video of him having a fish on the hook but being afraid to reel it in
Ben passes the fishing rod to the guy beside him when he sees Trae Young staring menacingly at him
there’s no way this is real
It’s reel.
Reely reel
I am so confused too, I can’t tell if this is some inside joke or not 😭
Reel*
U bum
Gone fishing!
LOL
only useful comment in this thread
Inside the NBA manifested it!
Simmons took that literally.
Lowkey that’s kind of dope. Good for him.
Made generational wealth and retired for the easy life before 30, he’s living the dream.
Seriously. I do this shit (fishing) for free. Not even that, I pay for it!
A few favorite memories with my friends are during fishing time. Just kick back and relax. Talk/chit chat while waiting for our lure to catch anything. Really relaxing but also some people can make it competitive.
High level tournament fishing(not the charity stuff most pro athletes occasionally dabble in) is incredibly difficult, complex, and a TON of pressure, its the opposite of relaxing lol. People not familiar with it may write this off as a guy deciding to chill while soaking a bait but its a extremely engaging and technical sport, during tournament weeks you are basically 100% go mode besides the 3-4hrs a night you sleep, and off time is a ton of planning and prep. That goes for bass tournaments to marlin derbys. I know some hardcore anglers who fish 2-5 times a week very seriously who wont tourny fish cause its too stressful. If youre into it is incredibly fun and rewarding though
Honestly sick, got paid to not have to play, and now gets to fish forever. One of the luckiest humans in history lol
besides the chronic back pain
Ben Simmons was supposed to be the next Lebron. He’s out the league and Bron is still here man lmfao
Hey Ben, we are good bro. You can go. LeBron is still here.
He’s going to avoid having to cast.
gym videos of him putting bait on the hook are gonna go hard
Him and Dustin Byfuglien should get together
That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long fucking time lol
He was literally like “yeah, I don’t feel like playing hockey anymore, it’s time for fishing”
Miss that guy
Reminds me of Dick Buffman, a Stern show fake name
Lmaooooo
This has to be satire. If not he will probably get hurt trying to cast his fishing pole
He should just hire a guy to cast it and then hand the pole back to him.
I’ll allow it.
Hopefully he’s happy and healthy in whatever he pursues. I know the back injuries, rabid fans, and memes can take a toll on anyone not only mentally, but physically. Wish he could’ve done more as a player, but fuck it that’s life.
“I don’t believe it’s just [about] getting on a team,” Simmons said. “So, if I were to play right now, I think I’d fit right into the NBA just given what I can do. But I want to give everything I can to the game. I don’t think there’s any point in just wasting a spot just to be out there. I think that’s a little selfish. And there are guys that do it now. But that’s what it is, the business. “For me, I’m very blessed to not have to be in that situation where I need to fight right now. But I want to get to the best of my ability and physical peak to compete. Otherwise, it doesn’t really serve me any purpose.”
“I don’t believe it’s just [about] getting on a team,” Simmons said. “So, if I were to play right now, I think I’d fit right into the NBA just given what I can do. But I want to give everything I can to the game. I don’t think there’s any point in just wasting a spot just to be out there. I think that’s a little selfish. And there are guys that do it now. But that’s what it is, the business.
“For me, I’m very blessed to not have to be in that situation where I need to fight right now. But I want to get to the best of my ability and physical peak to compete. Otherwise, it doesn’t really serve me any purpose.”
There’s more in the article but Ben doesn’t feel like it’s worth it if his body isn’t 100%. Spending some time to fish is part of him getting away from the game, and it’s more about him owning a team…but whatever people will get their jokes off. There’s even an answer of him not wanting to compete due to admitting he’s not that good of an angler so this headline is extra stupid
Nobody read this article that’s not what he says 😂
Tbf, it is Ben Simmons.
He’s literally Gone Fishin
32 y/o Andre Drummond developed enough of a 3 ball to waive off the NBA career grim reaper for a few more years, yet Ben Simmons can’t diversify his game at all.
I dont know if he can fish, if his casting is anything like his shooting, he isnt going to be able to hit the water more than 3 feet away from his boat. Seems like it would be hard to catch a fish like that.
Nah man, there’s no point beating a dead horse. Bro’s already retired and the clown who made the headline was obviously baiting.
Yes he still has more money than most people would spend in their lifetime, but the physical and mental toll and fatigue he had with his career and injuries are real. RIP sweet prince. He can rest now.
Sounds like a happy retirement to me.
LeBron played against fishermen
Can he put the fish inside the basket though?
Someone to Simmons: you couldn’t hit water if you fell out of a boat
Simmons: Okay bet
Au revoir, Young Socialite
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
I don’t think anyone cares.
Can something be on hold if it’s already ended?
Good for him
Never liked him much but it would be funny if he managed to go pro in 2 sports while dudes on reddit without one job try to clown him. Hope he does it
I would also like to announce that I am also putting my NBA career on hold.
redditors making fun of a guy with back injuries all his career while getting mad at booker making fun of fans being fat out of shape dudes is pretty funny
He chose fishing instead of hunting because he refuses to shoot
Happy for him, maybe he’ll find himself
Sounds like a good idea tbh. Anything that helps this dude with some zen
I’m pretty sure this is some Rich Paul scheme lol
Homie took “gone fishing” personally
Better than being an “influencer”, I guess
Is this “putting the NBA on hold” or “his career has naturally ended, so he’s doing this in his retirement”?
Don’t let Justin Herbert see this
Man has experience after going to Cancun so early and often.
Jokes aside best of luck to his next career choice
Hahahahaha
Pay for potential scheme ran its course.
Yk what? Good for him. I wish him the utmost success
Wait, wait, wait….HE’S taking a break from the NBA? I think the NBA took a break from him a looooooong time ago.
Fishing might be the perfect sport for him. He already has a lot of experience sitting, and he doesn’t have to shoot.
Not much to put on hold there old mate
The one sport his body might be able to hold up in
Wait what.
He heard someone say he couldn’t hit water from a boat and got a brilliant idea. Well played.
I am putting my relationship with supermodels and famous actresses on hold while I pursue internet porn for a while!
lol
He’s getting ready for the inevitable remake of A River Runs Through It
I mean he’s got the money to do it. If that’s his happy place then more power to him
I too have put my NBA career on hold.
Is this the Inside The NBA joke?
Probably shouldn’t have chosen a sport that involves putting things in a basket.
I heard he can’t cast farther than 19 feet.
Definitely going to sink a lot of floaters now.
Ya, I’m putting my NBA career on hold too!
😂😂😂
Lmao
This isn’t nba circle jerk???
Waiting for the yearly workout vid to drop tbh
goodluck to him i guess
“on hold” he’s never touching an NBA court again
Perma Gone Fishin’ presented by Inside the NBA
Good for him fr
When you have unlimited money you can pursue things like being a professional fisher….
“On hold”
Mmkay
Dude just like me.