Ben Simmons Put On 33 Pounds Over the Last Year

Ben Simmons was the top pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Ben Simmons is quite tall and as a 20-year old kid, the fear is he’ll be pushed around by bigger, stronger men who also play in the NBA. So like with any other tall, young basketball player, there is an emphasis on “bulking up.” Simmons has reportedly done a good job of that so far, saying yesterday that he now weighed 250 pounds. But how much of that weight has he put on since leaving LSU? 33 pounds according to this ESPN story. Some sites are even saying he weighed 217 at the Draft.

Ben Simmons did not put on 33 pounds between LSU’s last game (March 12) and yesterday (September 26). That would be impressive if it were true, but again, it’s not. In June, ESPN said Simmons had put on 20 pounds in just 3 months.

"The Sixers, sources said, came away impressed by the 20 pounds of muscle Simmons is said to have added to his physique since the end of the college season and viewed the meeting as the start of “building a relationship” with the player they are strongly expected to select ahead of Duke’s Brandon Ingram with the first pick next week."

LSU’s website – which probably isn’t updated after players leave the program, already had him listed at 240 pounds. Google says he’s 238. And here’s a quote from the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday:

"“I am a lot stronger now than I was in college and it will help me take hits and bumps,” Simmons said Monday at the team’s new practice facility in Camden. “When I started [at LSU], I was about 217 and now I’m about 250, so I gained a lot of weight.”"

In summation, Ben Simmons has bulked up since he arrived at LSU a year ago, but he wasn’t exactly a twig back then. He weighs more than he did at the end of the college basketball season, when he also wasn’t super skinny. Still, he is bigger and stronger. Only Simmons and his trainer(s) know exactly how much he’s put on since whenever, but it’s still good that he weighs 250-pounds. So, good job.