Ben Simmons has caused massive damage to his reputation. Can it be salvaged?

If Ben Simmons's reputation was in the toilet after Philadelphia's playoff exit last year, it made its way into the septic tank when he refused to turn up to preseason training, and now it's somewhere in a sewage treatment facility.

The good news is those places have some enzymes that can work wonders. The bad news is they're still full of poop.

So, now that Simmons has been moved to Brooklyn to link up with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Boomers great Patty Mills, what lies ahead for the Australian star?

Like one of Ye's $120 plain white T-shirts, it's simply too much money to spend on a product that isn't necessarily worth it.

That's not to say the thread count on those bad boys isn't great. I'm sure they're very comfortable, but at the end of the day, in a capitalist society, you have to expect a decent return on investment to fork out your hard-earned.

Simmons is just too expensive.

How did Ben Simmons's promising NBA career and relationship with Philadelphia turn so sour?

The 2021/22 season is the second of a five-year contract for Simmons that's worth something in the ballpark of $245 million.

Now, Simmons is a good player — great in some areas — but his deficiencies — can't shoot from any sort of distance, not very aggressive, not showing marked signs of improvement as he hits his mid-20s — are well known and eminently exploitable.

And a contract of that size is reserved for superstars of the game. MVP-level players who can carry a team to the last few games of the playoffs; think LeBron James, Steph Curry, Durant, Damian Lillard or, indeed, James Harden.

Basically, even the teams that might have wanted Simmons struggled to afford him, but most were turned off anyway.

Still, what better place than Brooklyn to find someone