The career of Ben Simmons is one of the more tragic stories in recent NBA history. The Australian forward entered the league and quickly became a star with the Philadelphia 76ers. However, he has fallen far from grace. After spending the last part of the 2024-25 season with the Los Angeles Clippers, not even Simmons' agent wants him anymore. Jeff Teague wants him to retire.
Simmons has fought back issues and mental blocks for the last few years. The 76ers traded him to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for James Harden in a deal that ended his partnership with Joel Embiid. Since then, the forward has not been able to recapture the magic that made him an All-Star. Despite interest from multiple teams, Simmons has few options without an agent.
Teague had a long career in the NBA and played against Simmons in the later years of his career. According to him, it is time for Simmons to hang his sneakers up and retire. He said on the Club 520 podcast that the forward is out of opportunity to contribute to a team the way he used to.
“Yeah it’s over bro y’all seen him when he was playing. He can’t move no more,” Teague said. “He runs like people on 2K. If you’ve got Kawhi’s motion style, you know what I’m talking about. You run like your back hurts. He runs like his back hurts. He’s hurt, I used to always be like okay whatever, but no, he’s legit hurt. What made him effective was pushing the ball and being dynamic in transition and he can’t do that anymore. Or he doesn’t have the opportunity, like nobody believes it.”
Simmons has yet to make his next move. However, his agent abandoning him is a bad sign for his future as he tries to find a new team. His playoff games for the Clippers could very well be the last ones he plays in his NBA career if Teague is right.
