The final time former No. 1 general choose Ben Simmons suited up for an NBA recreation, he performed underneath 5 minutes for the Los Angeles Clippers in Recreation 5 of their first-round playoff exit to the Denver Nuggets final season. He recorded zero factors whereas recording one rebound and one block. It ended a season the place Simmons performed simply 18 video games for L.A. after being waived by the Brooklyn Nets in February, and signing a deal for the rest of the season with the Clippers.

He went unsigned as a free agent through the offseason, and whereas he is nonetheless engaged on an NBA comeback, the three-time All Star’s focus has been on skilled fishing as of late. Simmons informed Andscape that he is been finishing two-a-day basketball and energy and rehabilitation exercises six days per week, with hopes of constructing his return to the NBA. Whereas there is not any agency timeline for his return, and with no staff there is definitely no expectations positioned on him, the two-time All-Defensive participant hopes to be wholesome sufficient to hitch a staff through the All-Star break, or maybe subsequent season. However he would not need to simply be on a roster for the sake of it.

“I do not consider it is simply [about] getting on a staff,” Simmons mentioned. “So, if I had been to play proper now, I believe I might match proper into the NBA simply given what I can do. However I need to give every little thing I can to the sport. I do not suppose there’s any level in simply losing a spot simply to be on the market. I believe that is a bit egocentric. And there are guys that do it now. However that is what it’s, the enterprise.”

Together with exercises that Simmons says are “exhausting,” he is develop into an proprietor of an expert fishing staff, the South Florida Sails. It is a part of the Sport Fishing Championship league, which consists of 16 groups throughout 11 states. They compete in tournaments catching numerous fish, with a championship on the road on the finish of a season.

“It is a very area of interest sport. And if you do not know, you do not know,” Simmons mentioned. “However when you expertise it and get on the market and see what it is about, you are sort of in awe of what the game is. And that is simply one thing I’ve at all times been thinking about by way of the game of fishing. The approach. And there is a lot to it that individuals simply do not perceive. These guys are fishing on million-dollar vessels, they usually’re out for days at a time. So, it is tedious and gritty, however loads of enjoyable. It is a type of worlds the place you simply acquired to sort of expertise it, get into it and see what it is about.”

Simmons is not a member on the staff, as he mentioned he is “not the most effective angler,” however he is been extremely dedicated to being concerned from an possession standpoint.

“I’ve a ardour in serving to these guys develop the game as a result of I actually consider in it. So, for me to compete, it will be a bit egocentric. Perhaps if I work laborious sufficient to be a little bit of an angler, possibly I will put myself on the roster. However it’s extra so for me about constructing the neighborhood in Miami across the fishing. That is actually vital, and it is a accountability that now we have now.”

So far as his NBA return goes, Simmons mentioned he hasn’t suffered any setbacks as he tries to rejoin the league. As encouraging as that’s, Simmons hasn’t performed 60 or extra video games since his second season within the league — which is pre-pandemic. He performed 51 video games final season break up between the Nets and Clippers, however was nonetheless distant from the two-way flooring normal that earned him a number of accolades early in his profession.

In actuality, Simmons may not ever return to that model of himself who was locking down the league’s finest offensive gamers on one finish and allotting some eyebrow-raising dimes on the opposite. However he nonetheless needs to attempt.

“We’re human, we need to discover out,” Simmons mentioned. “I acquired to see. I do not suppose this story is over for me enjoying, however let’s examine the place it goes. So so long as I put in that work and put the vitality into doing that, then every little thing else will write itself.”