Ben Simmons and the curse of talent

He was supposed to be the point guard of the future: tall, big-boned, athletic and fast, a top-class passer and defender. Only one thing was missing: a reliable shot – theoretically the simplest thing to add during training sessions for such a combination of talent. Ben Simmons has been none of these things, despite a decidedly encouraging start to his career. His basketball journey was crystallised in a single frame: Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference semi-finals between Philadelphia and Atlanta, with the Hawks leading 88–86 and three and a half minutes remaining. Simmons found himself attacking in the low post against Danilo Gallinari; he got away from him and could have laid it up off the backboard or dunked comfortably, but instead handed the hot potato to Thybulle, who managed nothing more than two free throws. This was symptomatic of a technical and emotional struggle that had led him to take zero field goals in the fourth quarters of Games 4, 5 and 6 of that series, which the Sixers ultimately lost in the closing stages. It was the point of no return. Overwhelmed by criticism from the press and his teammates—most notably a furious Joel Embiid—Simmons became the perfect scapegoat, not without reason, and clamoured for a trade, allowing his career to sink into oblivion in Brooklyn.

The problem with this story is that today, in 2006, Ben Simmons is only thirty years old and has already sat out an NBA season – his most recent one – all after speaking openly over the last few years about his mental health issues, as well as a physical decline caused by chronic back problems that have had serious repercussions on his legs and knees. A devastating cycle of surgical procedures had led him to step away from the game. The season set to begin in a few hours, however, was supposed to mark his return to the court, buoyed by his signing with the Sacramento Kings. The signs during pre-season – with all the usual caveats regarding pre-season matches – had even been encouraging. The “Ben Simmons brand” was ready to get back on track, far removed from the hype surrounding his status as a “chosen one” but still so captivating that ESPN chose to document his return in the documentary “Being Ben”, released by Disney+ at precisely the moment news arrived from Sacramento that threatens to bring the Australian’s career to an end: a ruptured Achilles tendon, the season already over, and who knows what will happen next.

Some have seen this as a sort of karmic punishment: what happens to those who decide not to honour their talent. For years, offseason after offseason, videos circulated of Simmons finally ‘ready’ to explore the three-point shot – a move that was then invariably shelved when the transition was made from the training ground to the actual court. However, it is also true that the issue of mental health—which many had initially mocked, assuming it was a ploy to facilitate a break with the Sixers—has, over time, come to the fore in a powerful way, involving a long course of psychotherapy in the difficult quest for peace of mind. And now comes a blow that is hard to cope with. In theory, there would be time to make a comeback. But will Simmons really have the strength to do so?