Philadelphia 76ers: Who is Ben Simmons really?

Ben Simmons is a transcendent talent for the Philadelphia 76ers and has developed his own voice in his strong rookie campaign. However, where does that voice come from?

Ben Simmons is an American-Australian wonderkid renowned for his basketball acumen and passing prowess for the Philadelphia 76ers. His passing also extends off the court though, as he passes for a born and bred American at first listen.

As someone with a relatively low I.Q., I found it hard to tell when Ben would bring his accent out, and what words would set it off. So naturally, I watched any and every interview I could in order to get to the bottom of it.

The brief backstory is that Ben’s father is from New York, played pro basketball in Australia and ended up settling down there. As a result, Simmons grew up there before making the jump to America in high school in search of more serious competition.

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He played his mandatory year of college ball at LSU before becoming the No. 1 overall pick the following year. So he’s been around American culture through his dad’s side of the family his whole life, but didn’t really experience it in-depth until a few years ago.

While falling down a YouTube rabbit hole in search of the source I found a fairly linear pattern. His most recent interviews make me think I’m a crazy person for ever hearing an accent in the first place. Simmons has a voice (not face) built for a smooth jazz radio station, as he calmly coos out his answers to whatever media he’s addressing.

To be totally honest he’s got a little bit of that Kawhi Leonard software loaded into him where he just wants to play basketball and cannot compute the need to answer questions. His post-game interviews bore me to absolute death, in stark contrast to the butterflies in my stomach his game gives me.

To put it simply, watching these interviews makes him sound as American as voting reality television stars into office.

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Working backwards from the present, his accent starts appearing more and more frequently. He appeared on Jimmy Fallon just before the draft with that sweet mesh of both accents, picking and choosing which words he was gonna go down under on. Talk about getting you a man that can do both, *LeBron voice* sheeeesh!

The last interview I found really hammered the nail in the coffin though, which was a piece done by his homeland’s ABC affiliate. Not only does he let his Steve Irwin light shine (R.I.P.) in all its glory, but he admits to changing his accent for basketball sake. He cites that its beneficial for him to morph his voice so his teammates can understand him better.

Ben Simmons is an accent chameleon and team leader, sacrificing his childhood culture for the benefit of the team. It is true that the 76ers are America’s team and only team to have Ben Franklin featured in a secondary logo. Ben Franklin…Ben Simmons…connect the dots people, our point guard may be more American than any of us.

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He is the penultimate example of a passer, in terms of on and off the court, as he’s able to seamlessly switch from multiple cultural backgrounds as easily as he switches the pick-and-roll, folks. Cheers to that deceptive little bugger.