Ben Simmons is back under the NBA blowtorch after his actions late in Brooklyn’s upset 115-102 win over Milwaukee on Monday (AEDT).
Still just 28 years old, Simmons is in the final season of a five-year, US$177 million ($268m) max deal he originally signed with the Philadelphia 76ers back in 2020.
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At that time, the former No. 1 pick was a highly coveted NBA asset and in the midst of a three-year run as an All Star, the first Australian to earn that honour.
Fast forward to today and the Victorian is 파워볼 struggling to retain any semblance of a professional career.
It famously started going south when Simmons refused to take an open dunk in a 2021 playoff loss to Atlanta, a moment that sparked his eventual exit from the Sixers.
And that moment roared back into the minds of countless basketball fans on Monday when an eerily similar moment occurred against the Bucks, as you can see in the video player above.
It started well enough, with Simmons poking a ball away from Milwaukee gun Damian Lillard with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter at the Barclays Center.