At 30, Simmons isn't ready to just coast.

For years, the recurring offseason themes: Zion becoming disciplined, Doncic slimming down, the Clippers contending, and Simmons training again. This year, aside from the Clippers losing their "offseason champion" status, everything else continues.

Simmons started his offseason workouts a bit late this year, only posting his first training pictures yesterday, complete with a motivational quote. When free agency first opened, Simmons was either hunting or fishing, fully embracing a retired lifestyle — a routine he's maintained for the entire past year.

Simmons last played in the NBA during the 2025 playoffs, appearing in five games for the Clippers. His minutes dwindled with each game, until he was completely unplayable. Over those five games, he totaled 4 points and 4 assists, averaging less than a point per game. In the year since, Simmons has vanished from the basketball world, effectively in a semi-retired state.

Amid the 76ers' rising offseason buzz, rumors have emerged that Simmons might fill their final roster spot as a small-ball center on his former team. But those rumors should be taken with a grain of salt. Simmons' biggest issue now is that he may not even be at an NBA level, let alone good enough to compete for a spot on the 76ers.

During his time with the Clippers, Simmons indeed played the small-ball center role, occasionally filling in as a point guard and making a few flashy passes. However, in most situations, his offensive aggression was virtually nonexistent. The majority of his scoring came from transition, cuts, and putbacks. He posed no threat from mid-range or beyond, and in half-court offense, he was still a player defenses could completely ignore.

As a result, Simmons could still scrape together some minutes in the regular season, taking some playmaking pressure off James Harden. But in the playoffs, he was completely unplayable. And this was the outcome when he was in a normal training state. In the 2025 offseason, Simmons didn't receive any contract offers. He didn't choose to play overseas to stay in shape either; instead, he simply enjoyed life.

Whether Simmons maintained his training during this period is unknown, but based on the recent photos he posted, his physique at least looks good, and he even seems a bit leaner. That's probably why fans and media have held onto a glimmer of "hope."

The latest news: Simmons, at his own expense, participated in a "zero-limits" Australian men's national basketball team mini-camp in Melbourne on Monday. Essentially, he joined the Australian team's training sessions on his own dime to build rapport with the national team. It's reportedly also a "dream" of Simmons to represent Australia at the 2028 Olympics—a notion even more surreal than his desire to return to the NBA.

Simmons is a native Australian, but he only represented Australia at the U17 level during his youth. Since turning pro, he has no record of playing for the senior Australian team, and in fact, he has repeatedly refused to play for his country.

In April 2016, Simmons withdrew from the Australian national team, citing preparation for his NBA rookie season. In 2019, he had confirmed his participation in the FIBA World Cup but backed out at the last minute. Then in 2021, after promising to play in the Tokyo Olympics, he once again stood up Australia.

Simmons' repeated refusal to represent his country has soured his relationship with Basketball Australia. Under these circumstances, a semi-retired Simmons dreaming of playing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is nothing short of fantasy.

Even though Simmons became unemployed in 2025, in my view, the last time he truly played basketball was in the 2021 playoffs. Later, he fell out with Embiid over blame assignment and sat out the entire 2021-22 season. After joining the Nets, his most active season saw him play only 42 games, by which point his back injury had already become severe.

Simmons certainly belongs in the category of talents derailed by injuries. If not for his herniated lumbar disc and the resulting lower back nerve compression, he wouldn't have been out of work at the prime age of 29. He underwent two microdiscectomy surgeries in 2022 and 2024, both of which caused irreversible physical damage.

After that, Simmons' athleticism was cut in half. His foot speed slowed and his physicality declined dramatically, as if he had aged 10 years. As for his shooting woes, which had been criticized throughout his career, they were not the primary reason for the end of his NBA career.

When he was young and healthy, Simmons could still become an All-Star through skills other than shooting. Once his body fully deteriorated, all that awaited him was being swept away by the tide of the times, without leaving even a ripple.