After years of being the laughingstock of the association, the Philadelphia 76ers finally have something of substance to look forward to.
Yes, the addition of Jahlil Okafor was a step in the right direction and while he may be a future all-star one day, he doesn’t have near the upside of Ben Simmons.
Simmons is one of those once in a generation talents, which is why there’s a heavy burden on his shoulders to bring Philly back into relevancy.
With already tons of pressure built up, hall of famer Shaquille O’Neal is doing the kid no favors after this recent comparison.
“He’s a LeBron-type player,” O’Neal said. “What I mean by that, LeBron does a nice job of making everybody else around him better — passing the ball, doing the small things — and Ben is that type of player.”
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“He took a lot of flack, especially at LSU with not really taking over games,” O’Neal said. “But he’s young. He’ll get to that.”
Sure, we’ve seen this comparison numerous of times in recent months, but coming from someone of Shaq’s stature, it carries more weight.
There’s no question when looking at Simmons’ size and playmaking ability, you see some LeBron in his game, but let’s pump the breaks just a tad here.