Ben Simmons may have one last chance to salvage his once-promising NBA career

It won't be easy but there may be a reason to believe that Ben Simmons is finally healthy and ready to salvage his NBA career.

Heading into the start of the 2024-25 NBA season, there are many star players with much to prove. However, there's one "former" star player with a much more important mission on hand. Ben Simmons, who has endured a massive fall from grace, may be entering his final shot to salvage his once-promising NBA career.

At the start of his career, Simmons had the look of a perennial All-Star player with superstar potential. After four strong seasons, though, the fall quickly began. Since the 2021-22 NBA season, Simmons has played in just 57 games. In the games he's played in, he's looked like a shell of his former All-Star self.

Heading into 2024-25, Simmons is no longer trying to prove he can be an All-Star in the league anymore. He's simply trying to prove he belongs in the NBA period. But perhaps there is some hope for the polarizing Brooklyn Net heading into this season.

NBA trainer Chris Brickley has been evidently training with Simmons this summer and he recently declared that he's ready to return to his All-Star status in the league. On the one hand, what do you expect him to say? On the other, he didn't have to make such a declaration on his own social media account and because of that, what if Simmons is finally healthy and ready to salvage his career?

Ben Simmons' fall from grace has been peculiar

At this point, there's not much else for Simmons to be competing for. There's no more having to live up to his contract or expectations. Heading into this season, Simmons is entering the final year of his deal and there's almost no expectation on what to expect from him this year.

With the way his career has nose-dived over the past few years, Simmons can only go up. Maybe that will be enough to motivate Simmons heading into the start of the season.

There haven't been many stories that have mirrored what Simmons has had to fight through in his career. With the start of his career he had, I'm not sure anyone could've predicted that he'd be playing for another contract at 28 years old. The argument could be made that there's no guarantee he gets another contract in the league - especially if he misses the majority of the season again.

In essence, Simmons is essentially playing to salvage his career this season. Simmons doesn't have to return to All-Star form this year. He just has to prove that he can remain healthy and emerge as a productive piece of a team.

I don't think it's hyperbole to suggest that Simmons has one more shot to salvage his career at this point.