SI:AM | Ben Simmons Returns With a Bang

Plus, the most influential teams in NFL history.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m not surprised at all that Dillon Brooks went after LeBron James again last night.

In today’s SI:AM:

🎰 What took so long for a Vegas Super Bowl?

⛏️ Purdy’s big opportunity

🏈 Re-ranking the CFB top 25

If you’re reading this on SI.com, click here to subscribe to receive SI:AM in your inbox every weekday.

An optimistic return

Ben Simmons returned to the court for the Brooklyn Nets last night against the Utah Jazz after being sidelined for nearly three months and looked every bit like the All-Star he once was.

Simmons had missed Brooklyn’s last 38 games with a pinched nerve in his back. He had not played since Nov. 6. Because of that, he was on a minutes restriction and played for only short bursts. He played just 18 minutes (checking in for between four and five minutes in each quarter) but still padded the stat sheet with 10 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. It was just Simmons’s seventh double double since being traded to the Nets in 2022, and he took the least amount of playing time to record a double double in his career. (You can watch his highlights here.)

Nets coach Jacque Vaughn told reporters that Simmons was “very impressive” in his return.

“Other people played so well tonight because of the impact of Ben Simmons. It’s that simple,” Vaughn added.

“The looks that we got tonight, the amount of threes that we got tonight, the fast-break points that we got tonight, the uncontested looks that we got tonight, the pace that we played with ... we did it on both ends of the floor. And Ben deserves an extreme amount of credit for the way he played tonight.”

The Nets cruised to a 147–114 victory at home, their most points and largest margin of victory in a game this season.

Simmons has had a strange career, to say the least. After being selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the first pick in the 2016 draft, he missed his entire first season in the league with a foot injury. He played 81 games the following season, averaging 15.8 points, 8.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game to win the Rookie of the Year. He was named to the All-Star team in each of the next three seasons, but his career took a turn with his confounding loss of confidence in the ’21 playoffs. He subsequently demanded a trade and sat out while the Sixers sought to resolve the issue. Even after being traded to the Nets, Simmons remained sidelined with a back injury and did not play at all that season.

Back problems have plagued Simmons throughout his short time with the Nets, limiting him to just 42 games last season, but that hasn’t been his only issue. Even when he was on the floor last season, he wasn’t the same player he had been in Philadelphia. He averaged just 6.9 points per game and posted an atrocious .439 free-throw shooting percentage—the third worst of any player in the league (minimum 50 free-throw attempts).

But games like last night show that Simmons still has the ability to be a game-changing player. Coming up just shy of a triple double in a mere 18 minutes of playing time is a serious achievement. And the Nets are in desperate need of a boost right now. The win improved their record to 19–27, moving them into 10th place in the East, but teetering on the brink of play-in tournament qualification is not a good place to be. They have a solid one-two offensive punch with Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas (both averaging more than 20 points per game), but Simmons can be a better distributor than starting point guard Spencer Dinwiddie and is an elite defender. If he’s able to stay on the floor, he can help the Nets solidify their postseason position. But that’s obviously a big if.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Illustration by Davide Barco

• Greg Bishop wrote about the debate over Brock Purdy and the place in 49ers history that he can carve for himself by leading the team to a championship.
• In the cover story from the latest Sports Illustrated, Steve Rushin wonders why it took the NFL so long to hold a Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
• Matt Verderame’s countdown of the 50 most influential teams in NFL history continues with Nos. 40–31.
• Pat Forde re-ranked his way-too-early top 25 after taking into account transfer portal decisions and coaching moves.
• The Bucks lost last night in Doc Rivers’s debut with the team. Before that, though, Chris Mannix wrote about the opportunity Rivers has with Milwaukee to silence his critics.
• The Knicks don’t believe Julius Randle’s shoulder injury is all that serious.
• Former NBA point guard Rajon Rondo was arrested last night in Indiana on misdemeanor gun and drug charges.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Luka Dončić’s shot from well beyond the half-court line. (It didn’t count because it came after the buzzer, but still.)

4. Terry Rozier’s vicious spin move that left Kevin Durant flummoxed.

3. Anthony Edwards’s postgame interview in which he called out the refs with zero hesitation.

2. The Holy Cross swim team running into the basketball gym to try to distract a Boston University free-throw shooter.

1. Victor Wembanyama’s absurd block where he grabbed the ball out of mid-air with both hands.

SIQ

On this day in 1936, the National League franchise in Boston previously known as the Braves announced the new nickname it would use that season. What was it?

• Blues
• Bees
• Beaneaters
• Patriots

Yesterday’s SIQ: Who is the youngest person to win a professional golf tour event?

• Tiger Woods
• Lydia Ko
• Michelle Wie
• Jason Day

Answer: Lydia Ko. She was just 14 years, eight months old when she won the Bing Lee/Samsung Women’s NSW Open on the WPGA Tour of Australasia on Jan. 29, 2012, one year younger than Ryo Ishikawa was when he won on the Japan Golf Tour in ’07.

Ko turned pro in 2013 at just 16 after the LPGA waived its requirement that members be at least 18 years old. She earned her first LPGA victory at the Swinging Skirts Classic in April ’14. Her 17th birthday was on the same day as the first round of the tournament. Ko, now 26, has won 20 times on the LPGA Tour, including two majors (the ’15 Evian and ’16 Chevron).