Something Like A Phenomenon

Hoops sensation Ben Simmons might be the next LeBron James. After a barnstorming rookie season his next goal is clear: to be the best ever.

- Ben Jhoty 

The king-in-waiting looks more like a prince at play. Ben Simmons is dribbling a black leather ball insouciantly between his legs at a studio in Philadelphia’s hip Old City Gallery district. Every so often he hurls increasingly loose behind-the-back passes at his brother Sean, raising an eyebrow when they aren’t caught cleanly. Sean glares back at him as if to say, what the hell? You’d have to say there’s not a whole lot of brotherly love on display today, as Simmons smirks and resumes dribbling. It’s an achingly-cold morning in the home of cheesesteaks, Rocky and America’s Founding Fathers, a city still buzzing from the Eagles’ Superbowl victory a few days earlier. Simmons watched the wild post-game celebrations from his apartment overlooking City Hall, before briefly heading downstairs to join the roiling mass of green-and-white-cloaked fans. Taking in the hordes, the 21-year-old couldn’t help reflecting on the fortunes of his own emerging team. And wondering, what would it be like if, one day, he too could bring a championship to the city.

“It’s motivating for us to see the fans come out and support them,” says Simmons, a little wistfully as he eases his 208cm frame onto a stool. “It just pushes us to get to that point with the team we’ve got.”

A championship is something Simmons returns to a number of times during the course of our conversation. To say it figures in his calculations would be like saying Sydneysiders have a passing interest in real estate or Donald Trump dabbles in Twitter. Right now, it is his life’s mission. Along with winning a medal, gold of course, with the Boomers at the Olympics. Oh, and one more thing: “to be the greatest player of all time”.