A fall from grace can happen to anyone at almost any time. In the realm of sports, the wrong twist of the body or a decision being made can ruin an athlete’s career and future. Ben Simmons has returned to the NBA by signing a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Sacramento Kings after around two years of not being in the NBA and really 5 years after the incident that derailed his career for the next half-decade.
Ben Simmons, leading to his departure from the NBA a few years back, faced chronic back issues from pinched back nerves and multiple back surgeries that never seemed to work fully and forced him to miss significant time across his career.
While physically incapable, following arguably one of the biggest mistakes and mess-ups in recent NBA history, Simmons faced in 2021 faced raging scrutiny and hate from the Philadelphia 76ers fan base. Online hate, slurs, burning his jersey outside the arena; it was a showcase of pure hatred. And like the person he was, Ben Simmons dealt with severe mental health struggles, burnout, and public fallout.
Ben Simmons spent this full season on hiatus, completely away from basketball to focus on full physical rehabilitation and mental recovery, and focused primarily on professional-level fishing.
But now he has returned to the sport of basketball with the Sacramento Kings and claims to be physically clear to play and mentally healthy like he’s never been.
The Importance of Physical and Mental Health in sports, and why this case of Ben Simmons for me is so important, is because Ben Simmons was my inspiration. First, no, I’m not 6 feet 10 inches like him and can dunk and throw behind-the-head passes. I am even below the average Joe when it comes to basketball, but seeing one of the NBA’s biggest stars get ripped apart each day over a loss of confidence in one moment changed me in a way.
Ben Simmons became the inspiration for the exact reason why I strive to be a journalist every day: to tell the stories of the world and people, including athletes who often aren’t seen as people but just sources of entertainment.
So seeing the exact reason, I decided to go down this career path in life to find that spark again and work to get back to a place he was before through the physical and mental pain is truly a beautiful thing, and I can just hope he can keep this happiness of playing for more time to come.
