‘That’s the difference’: Simmons’ former agent opens up on Aussie NBA star’s sad decline

Ben Simmons’ former agent Rich Paul has offered a candid insight into the Australian’s fall from grace, both defending the three-time NBA All-Star while also hinting at just why he never went on to reach the heights he once seemed destined for.

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Simmons, who was drafted first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers and quickly established himself as a superstar of the future, is without an NBA contract for the first time in his career and recently revealed a new foray into professional fishing.

While Simmons is by no means lost to the NBA, with the Australian continuing the rehabilitation from his lingering back issue in a bid to return to the court, it is just the latest chapter in the 29-year-old’s decline from his All-Star days.

Injuries obviously played a serious role in that, with Simmons telling The Athletic’s Sam Jane earlier in the week that the Australian wants his body to be “bulletproof” before exploring an NBA return.

“He also said his shot finally feels good and that he can now take a simple hook shot without any discomfort,” Jane added.

But for the time being, Simmons remains out of the NBA and was the topic of conversation between Paul and American sports personality Max Kellerman on the latest episode of their podcast.

In it, Kellerman spoke with Paul about the subject of athletes who have not lived up to their potential, with Simmons being a prime example.

But Paul, one of the most powerful agents in the NBA, challenged Kellerman and Simmons’ critics more broadly on their assertion that his career should be deemed a failure.

In a particularly telling comment, Paul hinted that unlike other athletes in the NBA and across professional sports in general, Simmons didn’t necessarily have dreams of winning championships.

“Either you love what the game brings you or you love the game,” as Paul put it.

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’s legacy and what their ultimate goals may be.

“Everything that Ben wanted to happen for Ben happened for Ben,” Paul said.

“He 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’s two ways to go about this.

“Either, 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’t say, ‘I want to get to the NBA and I want to be great in the NBA for 15 years’. No, they dream of making it to the NBA.

“So, you’re going up that mountain and some guys get up that mountain and (are) saying, ‘(exhales) I made it’… some guys get there and it’s like, ‘Good. I got up there. Now I’m going to go back down’.

“Some guys and (are) like, ‘OK, now I want to go higher’ and that’s the difference.”

As Paul went on to point out, Simmons got to the mountain “quick” too. “Everything was fast,” he added.

There wasn’t necessarily a championship, but the individual accolades were swift to come Simmons’ way after an injury-interrupted rookie season.

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.

To that effect, as Kellerman noted, there are still people out there — including himself — who will remember Simmons as a “waste of talent”.

To that, Paul pointed to a disconnect which is often at the heart of the Simmons debate.

“That’s you as a fan wanting more for you. We don’t know what he wanted for him,” Paul said.

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: “You want him to be like LeBron James”.

The LeBron comparisons followed Simmons around throughout his career. Even before he was drafted, Magic Johnson was calling the Australian the “best all round player I’ve seen” since the Lakers superstar.

Paul, however, isn’t a fan of such comparisons.

“See, what we do in sports is we say, ‘Oh, Ben Simmons needs to be like this person’. No, Ben Simmons needs to be like Ben Simmons,” Paul said.

Paul, who was Simmons’ 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 “20-year career”.

“He was that good,” Paul said.

“But you can’t necessarily ignore some of the things that took place. You’re talking purely from a talent perspective.”

From his “illuminating” conversation with Paul, however, Kellerman came to the conclusion that Simmons’ career “died” because he didn’t have that same competitive, championship-or-bust mentality that so many of the great NBA players have.

“Ben Simmons’ career at a certain point died, and what I’m 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,” he said.

Whether Simmons returns to the NBA remains to be seen, with Paul telling Kellerman he is still leaving the book “open” for the Australian’s career.

And while Paul’s conversation with Kellerman illustrated just how sensitive he is to his individual client’s 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.

In it, Paul said he told Simmons he had “so much left in the tank” 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.

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.