Ben Simmons is leaving LSU to enter the NBA Draft.
It wasn’t the stellar season that the LSU Tigers were hoping for with star forward Ben Simmons, but it’s all they’re apparently going to get. Simmons was heavily rumored to be leaving the school after one year to begin his career in the NBA, something that has been motivated by reports that he’ll be a top pick this July.
The announcement was hardly surprising, but on Monday it was reported that Simmons will indeed be leaving LSU and entering the NBA Draft this summer.
While Simmons was one of the best players in the country this past season for LSU, the Tigers seemingly wasted their one-and-done year with their standout star. Usually fans are irate over one-and-done players leaving, but that typically comes after a season that ends with a March Madness run.
That didn’t happen for LSU, as their sole season with the guy some are calling the next LeBron James feels like it almost didn’t happen. There was no March Madness run and no NIT trip either — just literally one season and done with Simmons. There was hope that he might come back for another season but his abuse of the one-and-done rule sort of ruined any chance of that happening.
Simmons was ruled academically ineligible to be up for the Wooden Award, and will probably be hit with ineligibility next year — but he’ll already be in the NBA by that point. Basically, he didn’t go to class because he knew he’d be in the pros by the time it came to serve punishment by the NCAA.
It’s both brilliant and infuriating, and might be something that sinks his draft stock if teams read into it as a character issue. Either way, Simmons is headed to the NBA and draft fever is officially underway.