'Healthy' Ben Simmons putting 'Heat' on comeback

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Australian point-forward Ben Simmons has revealed he has been talking to NBA head coaches who have told him “if he’s healthy, he has a spot.”

“I plan on getting as strong as I can physically, getting my ass on the court, and then the team realising that my abilities will be needed,” he told Men’s Health magazine.

“I don’t have a plan on where.”

Men’s Health reported: “He feels like he still has a lot to offer teams (’You can’t teach 6'10" and IQ’) and he’s been talking to coaches who have told him to get healthy, because if he’s healthy, he has a spot.”

Simmons, 29, missed last season after his deal with the Los Angeles Clippers expired. The free agent received a one-year minimum contract offer from the New York Knicks before the start of the 2025-26 season, which he has rejected.

He bought into the South Florida Sails and won an angling championship in May 2026. But now he’s ready for a comeback, spending the past eight months fishing in Florida.

“Maybe I’ll go back to Philly,” he said.

“Miami would be nice. And not because it’s Miami – I like Erik Spoelstra, I like the Heat, I like their organisation, I like the culture.”

Simmons told Men’s Health he’s ramped up his training regimen to “two and a half to three hours of lifting and body work, as well as hour-and-a-half sessions on the court, with a day or two off every week.”

“I plan on getting as strong as I can physically, getting my ass on the court, and then the team realising that my abilities will be needed,” he said.

The 2.08m Melbourne-born former All-Star said it was a back injury and not the mental anguish of his acrimonious exit from the Philadelphia 76ers that stalled his career in Brooklyn.

In February 2020, while still in Philly, Simmons hurt his back in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, “apparently (the pain) so bad he threw up.”

COVID ended the 76ers' season.

June 20, 2021

The one play that changed his career trajectory.

With 3:31 left in the fourth, the 76ers down a bucket, Simmons turned baseline but instead of the 6'10", 109kg, point-forward hammering the ball home over the top of 6'1", 74kg Hawks point guard Trae Young he passed to fellow Australian Matisse Thybulle. Thybulle was fouled on his dunk attempt and made just 1 of 2.

Simmons, the first pick in the 2016 NBA draft, took only four shots in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals at home against the Atlanta Hawks and, sinfully in the eyes of 76ers fans, didn't finish with authority on a wide-open dunk late in the game that could have sparked a game-winning Sixers run.

He finished Game 7 with 5-8-13 in the 103-96 loss. It capped off a difficult postseason for the pass-first Australian.

All-Star centre Joel Embiid and 76ers teammates were less than helpful in the post-game press conference.

"I'll be honest. I thought the turning point was when we, I don’t know how to say it, is when we had an open shot, and we made one free throw," Embiid said.

Asked if Simmons could still be a point guard for a championship contender, coach Doc Rivers said he didn't have an answer. Later, Rivers said he'd been taken out of context.

But it was over. Simmons would never play for the Philadelphia 76ers again.

Men’s Health reports: “Simmons has since said that, in hindsight, he should’ve just dunked. When I ask him about it today, he seems good-natured about it all, saying he jokes with Thybulle about that moment. ‘I wasn’t hitting my shit, so motherf****r, you knock it down!’ Simmons laughs. ‘I just gave it to somebody who was shooting a higher percentage free throw at the time. So what is the difference? How about he should’ve made the f*****g free throws? But he didn’t, and it is what it is. That’s still my boy. I love the guy’.”

Australian Boomers assistant coach and Simmons' godfather, David Patrick, told Jason Cadee on Cut to the Jase the two-time NBA All-Defensive First Team member wanted to play for the national team again.

"Believe it or not, he wants to wear it, and I think the Olympics is kind of his goal," Patrick said.

"I think as he's got older and matured like all of us do, I think that's one thing he hasn't ticked off the box, playing for his country. He played at the youth level, but it's nothing like playing with the Boomers.

"So I think he's on track to trying to get healthy mentally and physically, and I think it's something that he will try to do moving forward.

"It'd be an exciting time to hopefully try to get him into LA, but there's some steps in place when you've been out for the year that he has been."

Free agency opens in the US tomorrow (AEDT), and Simmons turns 30 on July 20, 2026.

Will he be back in the NBA next season, only time will tell.

Ben Simmons’ Rookie Contract (Philadelphia 76ers)

• Drafted: 2016, No. 1 overall by the 76ers
• Contract: 4 years, (USD) $26.6M (rookie scale)
• Details: Signed July 2016. First two years guaranteed (~$16.4M), final two years team options.
• Notes: Missed entire rookie season (2016–17) due to foot injury.

Rookie Extension (Philadelphia 76ers)

• Signed: July 2019
• Contract: 5-years, (USD) $177.2M max extension (Designated Rookie Scale)
• Details: Kicked in starting 2020–21 season. Fully guaranteed.
• Annual Salary Breakdown:
• • 2020–21: $30.6M
  • 2021–22: $33.0M
  • 2022–23: $35.4M
  • 2023–24: $37.9M
  • 2024–25: $40.3M

Trade to Brooklyn Nets

• Date: February 10, 2022
• Deal: Simmons traded from Philadelphia to Brooklyn in the James Harden trade.
• Contract Status: Continued playing under his 5-year, $177M extension.
• Buy-out: The Nets bought out the remainder of Simmons' contract and he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers at the trade deadline in 2025.