Ben Simmons, the highly-touted Philadelphia 76ers forward who spent a year on LSU’s campus during the 2015-16 season, says he didn’t learn much as a Tiger.
“I think I would have learned a lot more being around professional athletes,” Simmons says in an interview with Uninterrupted. “Looking at it now I don’t even really know what I learned financially or just being a person at LSU. I think I’ve learned a lot more with this whole year being in Philly and being a pro than I did at LSU.”
Simmons, who was open about being a “one-and-done” student-athlete at LSU, had trouble academically while at the university. He made clear his distaste for the current college athletics system in a documentary released last year that chronicled his senior year of high school through the NBA draft. Simmons, originally from Australia, went to high school at Montverde Academy in Florida before attending LSU for a season.
In his latest interview, Simmons tells Uninterrupted the NCAA is a “dirty business” and if he had not gone to college “a lot of people would be losing money.” He says he was also fed up with the media attention and requirements when he was a student.
“I‘d have class and go lift, go practice, then ‘Oh, Ben you got to stay here and do media and the photo shoot.’ So I’d be kind of annoyed like ‘What am i getting out of this?’”
Simmons was drafted first overall in the 2016 draft by the 76ers but sat last season with a foot injury.
