Oh, honey: The Ben Simmons offseason hype train has left the station

With the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Ben Simmons from LSU. He did not step on the court in the 2016-2017 season because of a foot injury but came back strong.

Simmons won Rookie of the Year in the 2017-2018 season and followed that up with three consecutive All-Star seasons after that. However, since the 2020-21 NBA season, Simmons has not been much to write home about but has give sports writers a lot to talk about.

Simmons missed the entirety of the 2021-22 season. He then joined the Brooklyn Nets and played only 42 games in 2022-23 and 15 games in 2023-24. In his last two seasons combined, Simmons is averaging 6.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists.

While he still shows some flashes of being able to do it all, Simmons struggles to stay healthy and is still not performing to the level that a former No. 1 overall pick is expected to at the age of 27. However, Simmons does still have teammates who believe in him.

Nets teammate Cam Johnson still believes in Ben Simmons

Brooklyn Nets forward and Ben Simmons' teammate Cam Johnson believes that the team could be special in the upcoming season.

Michael Scotto, a senior NBA insider for USA Today Sports took to X that Cam Johnson had this to say:

"We get a healthy Ben Simmons back and with the stuff we were able to do with him in the lineup last year, I think there's a lot of potential."

Now this very well may be true but honestly it is kind of difficult to say. Simmons was only in the lineup for a total of 15 games and did not have the opportunity to make that much of an impact on the Nets season.

Only time will tell and maybe the 2024-25 NBA season will be what Simmons needs to reach his full potential, but the Nets should also be prepared to reshape their future by viewing him as a role player rather than a main weapon.