Despite only playing in 57 games since joining the Brooklyn Nets more than two-and-a-half years ago, Ben Simmons is making plenty of cash thanks his $177 million contract

Ben Simmons has played in only 57 games since joining the Brooklyn Nets in the middle of the 2021-22 season (
Image: Getty Images)

Ben Simmons’ 2023-24 NBA season is over after undergoing surgery for a pinched nerve in his lower back.

As a result of his back surgery, his second in three years, Simmons will have only played 15 games for the Brooklyn Nets this season. Since coming over to the Nets in February 2022 – as the centerpiece of the deal that brought James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers – Simmons has only played in 57 total games out of 191, less than 30 percent of all possible games, which includes all the games he will have missed this season. Instead of being a consistent contributor on the floor, Simmons has become a fixture on Brooklyn’s bench.

What’s more, Brooklyn is on the hook for Simmons’ contract. As a member of the 76ers, Simmons signed a five-year, $177 million contract extension, with the hope that the Australian would build upon his successful first three seasons in the league.

Instead, the opposite happened. The Nets have paid Simmons around $86.3 million for playing 57 games in two-and-a-half seasons and have seen him on the bench more than they have seen him on the floor.

That is about $1.5 million per game and broken down even further, that is almost $60,000 per minute, per the New York Post. What began as a promising career for Simmons seemingly has become a cautionary tale for NBA general managers everywhere, especially with a talent as tantalizing as the 27-year-old.

Originally the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Simmons missed the entirety of his rookie year after breaking his foot during training camp. Despite only being projected to miss four months with the injury, the 76ers sat him the entire year after it was revealed that his foot had not healed properly.

Simmons will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to provide relief from a pinched nerve in his lower back (
Image:
Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)
Although his career hit a snag early on, it appeared as if Simmons was on the precipice of greatness. He was an All-Star in three of the next four seasons, a two-time All-Defensive First-Team selection, an All-NBA Third-Team selection in the 2019-20 season and won Rookie of the Year in 2017-18.

However, it has been downhill since then. Shortly after Philadelphia’s Game 7 loss in the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Atlanta Hawks, both star center Joel Embiid and then head coach Doc Rivers criticized Simmons, with the former stating his teammate passing up an open dunk was a “turning point” and the latter unsure if Simmons was the right guard to lead the 76ers to a championship.

That led to a holdout and Simmons requesting a trade. He did not play in any games – citing his mental health – before he was traded to the Nets and the former star was diagnosed with a herniated disk, which forced him to sit for the entire season and underwent back surgery.

He made his Nets debut in October 2022, and played in 42 games before he was shut down for the rest of that season after it was discovered he had a nerve impingement in his back. That season, he averaged career lows across the board, playing only 26.3 minutes per game.

This year, Simmons missed the first 38 games of the season before making his debut on January 29. After 15 games, he again was shut down.

With Simmons’ contract being a strong contender for among the worst in the league, the Nets are hoping that some value can be salvaged, in the event the team wants to trade the former No. 1 overall pick. However, they will have to wait to see what type of player Simmons will be once he returns.