Former NBA champion Jeff Teague urges Ben Simmons to retire after experiencing such inconsistency in his career.
The 29-year-old wing is considering retirement, as it was reported that he was unsure whether to continue his career, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
The Knicks have shown interest, but can only offer a veteran minimum contract worth a little more than $3 million. Teague put emphasis on the value he had from before and now, that he earned much which it was good enough to retire.
“I can… I can see him retiring,” said Teague on the Club 520 podcast when his co-host claimed he can’t see Simmons retiring just yet. “He earned $203 million, that’s a good lot… He’s done now… Ben Simmons, he got fans over here, we’d love for you to sit down with us and talk, cause yeah, it’s over. It’s over. Bro, y’all seen him when he was playing? He can’t move no more, he runs like people on 2K.”
Aside from his stock going down, they said that the physical wise to compete with other forwards was not there anymore since his playstyle is more on physicality.
“You know, you know your motion style. If you got Kawhi Leonard motion style, you know what I’m talking about. Run like your back hurts. He runs like his back hurts… He’s hurt. I used to always be like, ‘Ah, whatever. Whatever.’ No, he’s legit hurt.”
Despite these inconsistencies, Simmons still has the talent and height that made several NBA teams interested in signing him, but not to the point of the similar value as before; rather, it was a bench warmer amount.
“What made him effective was pushing the ball and being dynamic in transition, and he can’t do that no more. Or he doesn’t have the opportunity, like nobody believes it… That was his whole game. I don’t know if he can do that no more.”
“It’s time to hang it up instead of being a joke. He’s like a running joke right now.”
The former Rookie of the Year has earned $203,356,689 in his career over seven seasons since 2016. He also became an All-Star three times before his career spiralled with them.
After his stint with the Philadelphia 76ers, the 6-foot-10 forward was then traded to the Brooklyn Nets in a trade package with the star James Harden to play the rest of the remaining in his former contract. In the recent season, he was given a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers that made him an unrestricted agent for now.
