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. 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. Early life Simmons was born in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy to father Dave and mother Julie. His father is an African-American expatriate who became a naturalised citizen of Australia, and his mother is a white Australian. He was raised alongside five siblings—Melissa, Emily, Liam, Sean, and Olivia—the first four being from his mother's previous marriage. His father played college basketball for Oklahoma City University in the United States before turning professional with the Melbourne Tigers in Australia's National Basketball League in 1989. Simmons was raised in Newcastle from the age of 18 months while his father played and coached in the city. Simmons began playing basketball at the age of seven in the Newcastle Hunters' under-12 representative team. He later played for Lake Macquarie and Newcastle. At age 10, Simmons returned to Melbourne and began playing junior basketball for the Knox Raiders. As a youngster, he also played rugby and Australian rules football.