Bill Simmons' dire takedown of unsigned Ben Simmons

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Polarising NBA podcaster and long-time basketball reporter and author Bill Simmons declared on his lasted podcast: "My number one most disappointing guy in the last 25 years is Ben Simmons."

Bill Simmons, 56, set-up the takedown of Australian point forward Ben Simmons, 29, as he lamented Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant's controversial and inconsistent star to his career after exploding on to the scene in 2019. Simmons podcast panel was Kirk Goldstein and Joe House.

"It’s 25 years of the 21st century. Just think, thinking back a little bit to everything we’ve seen and I was thinking about Ja Morant, who I’ve just been so disappointed by for so many different reasons, as most basketball fans have been the last couple years.

"Even the Klay Thompson thing — like, Klay Thompson is NBA royalty. Like, settle down. Don’t talk sh*t to Klay Thompson.

"I was wondering: has he thrown his hat in the ring for one of the most disappointing stars of the past 25 years?

"And what are the qualifications for that list, House? Because I don’t think injuries are fair.

"It’s like, ‘Oh, I’m so disappointed in Jay Williams'. Well — he got in a motorcycle accident, hurt his leg. That doesn’t count. Greg Oden I can’t be disappointed by.

"But I made a list of the guys I was the most disappointed by, and I’m not even gonna read the whole list — especially because probably all of them have a player podcast at this point.

"But I think my number one most disappointing guy in the last 25 years is Ben Simmons.”

In Philadelphia, Simmons was a three-time NBA All-Star (2019–2021); All-NBA Third Team (2020); two-time NBA All-Defensive First Team (2020, 2021); NBA Rookie of the Year (2018); NBA All-Rookie First Team (2018); and NBA steals leader (2020).

Ben Simmons has earned more than AUD $310M (USD $203M) in his nine-year career.

He is now an unsigned free agent after the Brooklyn Nets bought out the remainder of his contract before the 2024-25 trade deadline. He signed with the Los Angeles Clippers to finish the season and is still without a home, in what is supposed to be his prime.

“Because I think he was there for like a year and a half when it was like, I see the vision of what Ben Simmons is. I think he can be one of the 10 best guys in the league — like it’s right there.

"You (Ben Simmons) kind of look like LeBron (James) sometimes when you have a head of steam downhill, and defensively you might be one of the three best guys in the league.
And you are a foundation block of a team that could maybe win a title.

"And then it’s just that Atlanta series — it went sideways, and I’m disappointed by it.

"So is that… would that be a good candidate for you guys? Ja — is Ja starting to nudge toward the top here, Kirk?"

Goldsberry responded: "Yeah, he (Ja) definitely is and partly because I loved watching him play basketball at such a high level — me too — and he was so young and so ascendant and so confident and cocky.

"And those series against the Warriors were just thrilling to watch. And you know, I hear (ESPN commentator) Chris Berman in my head with… he had the city too.

"Like, he had this whole identity of Memphis and all this, and it was like, oh, this is perfect — the alignment of the player and the city. And the highlights were incredible too. It wasn’t boring greatness.

"I’d put him ahead of Ben Simmons, but that might be recency bias, just because I loved watching Ja Morant play.”

House added: “Ben Simmons to me has to be No.1. Wasn’t he — was he first team or second team? Second-team All-NBA. I think All-NBA and first-team All-Defense, right?”

Goldsberry answered: "Yeah. So Ja hasn’t Has he sniffed that? What’s Ja? What’s the — Ja might have been third team.

"But Ja was — you know — they had, I guess, the highlight for him was that Golden State series when they went toe to toe with those guys. They showed clips of that the other day when they were talking about his history with Golden State. And even in that series he just looks more explosive than anything we’ve seen this year.

"So he’s got to be in there, yeah."

Goldsberry then started to add to the list with his own evaluation of players he thought hadn't lived up to expectation.

"Markelle Fultz is a tough one because he’s disappointing, but I also think, you know, in retrospect I wonder how much of that was his fault," he said.

"It seemed like he had some physical stuff with the shoulder.

"Zion (Williamson), to me, is on the list — but I think he can still play out of it. I just don’t think he’s taken the body piece of it — the staying in shape, taking care of himself.

"I just don’t think he’s done it, and I think that’s the biggest reason he’s had so many issues.

"I don’t think it’s debatable. He’s one of those guys you watch from afar and you’re like: ‘Why can’t this guy figure it out?’ So I think that has to qualify.

"I had Darko (Miličić). I don’t know how much of that was his fault, but Darko was really talented, and I don’t really know why it didn’t happen.

"This isn’t like a Kwame Brown thing, where Kwame got drafted out of high school and ended up staying in the league for a while.

"It wasn’t his fault he went first, and that somebody thought he was better as an 18-year-old than Pau Gasol — which is just the wrong opinion.

"The somebody was Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan — someone was the greatest player of all time.”

Bill Simmons then interrupted to ask his panel about Joel Embiid. It was Embiid who criticised Ben Simmons for not taking a wide open dunk in the Eastern Conference Semis against the Atlanta Hawks, which was the tipping point for Simmons downward trajectory.

“For this exercise — let me interrupt you for just one second — if you put Ben Simmons No. 1, where’s Joel Embiid?” Bill said.

"I thought about him," Goldsberry responded.

"He didn’t make my list because I think physically it’s just been one thing after another the entire time. How much does he get blamed for that? I don’t know.

"He had issues coming into the league. He had knee injuries coming out of the gate. Whether he could have done things on his own — I don’t know. But he also won an MVP. He had some really good years.

"To me he’s more in that Chris Webber area where it’s like: ‘Oh, there’s a version of this where it’s a way better career.’ Never played in an Eastern Conference Final.”

Ben Simmons was linked to the New York Knicks before the start of the 2025-26 season but reportedly declined the offer. It's been radio silence since across all of his social media platforms and there rumour mill is completely silent.

Who is Bill Simmons?

Sportswriter & Author

• First became widely known writing long-form, conversational NBA and pop-culture columns as “The Sports Guy” for ESPN.
• Author of The Book of Basketball, one of the best-selling basketball books ever.

Podcaster

• Host of The Bill Simmons Podcast, one of the biggest sports podcasts in the world.
• Known for his conversational style, deep NBA knowledge, and recurring guests like Joe House, Ryen Russillo, and Zach Lowe.

Founder of The Ringer

• In 2016 he launched The Ringer, a digital sports and pop-culture media company.
• The Ringer was acquired by Spotify in 2020; Simmons is now a key content and strategy leader within Spotify’s podcast division.

Former ESPN Executive

• Created and ran Grantland, a groundbreaking long-form sports and culture site under ESPN.
• Executive producer for ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series.

Style & Reputation

• Blends analytics, nostalgia, pop culture, and fan-perspective commentary.
• Known for strong personal opinions, long-running NBA theories, and coining phrases that enter NBA discourse.
• Polarising but hugely influential in shaping modern sports media.