Ben Simmons
Benjamin David Simmons (born 20 July 1996) is an Australian professional
basketball player for the
Brooklyn Nets of the
National Basketball Association (NBA). He played
college basketball for one season with the
LSU Tigers, after which he was named a consensus first-team
All-American and the
USBWA National Freshman of the Year. Simmons was selected with the
first overall pick in the
2016 NBA draft by the
Philadelphia 76ers. After sitting out a year due to an injured right foot, he was named the
NBA Rookie of the Year in 2018 and was selected three times to the
NBA All-Star Game. As the result of a
holdout from the 76ers following the 2020–21 season, which led him to be traded to the Nets, Simmons is the most-fined player in NBA history, in terms of total financial loss.
Simmons attended
Box Hill Senior Secondary College in his hometown of
Melbourne, Victoria, before moving to the United States to attend
Montverde Academy in
Montverde, Florida. In his only season in college, LSU began the season with high expectations, but they failed to qualify for the
NCAA tournament. Simmons left school to enter the NBA draft, becoming the third Melbourne-born number one overall pick (following
Andrew Bogut and
Kyrie Irving) in 11 years. Simmons is the son of an American-born father,
Dave, who played professional basketball in Australia. A
dual citizen of Australia and the United States, Simmons has played for the
Australian national team.
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