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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Ben Simmons is best compared with point forwards by skill and role, not by declaring one player the overall winner. His combination of size, passing and defense differs from Draymond Green’s defensive-and-connective role, Scottie Pippen’s wing playmaking and LeBron James’s much larger scoring and creation load. The available NBA figures cover different seasons and career stages, so they are useful reference points—not a same-season ranking.
What makes a point forward different from a point guard?
“Point forward” describes a job more than a fixed statistical position: a forward-sized player who handles the ball, initiates offense or creates chances for teammates. A point guard can do those things too; the distinction is usually the player’s size, defensive assignments and place in the lineup, not a universal threshold for assists or height.
That functional definition fits the comparison here. NBA.com identifies Simmons as a 6-foot-10 guard-forward, while Green, Pippen and James offer different examples of frontcourt playmaking and responsibility. Role labels alone do not establish that their duties—or their teams’ systems—were alike.
How does Ben Simmons compare to other point forwards?
NBA.com’s bio gives Simmons’ first six NBA seasons, spanning 2017–24, averages of 14.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game. It also lists a .560 field-goal percentage and .589 free-throw percentage for that career window. Those figures show substantial passing volume alongside scoring and rebounding; they do not by themselves measure playmaking efficiency or establish how his role compares with another player’s in a particular season. NBA.com’s Ben Simmons bio and statistics
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| Player | What the cited NBA figures describe | Best use as a comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Ben Simmons | 14.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game across his first six NBA seasons (2017–24); .560 field-goal and .589 free-throw percentages in that bio’s stated window. NBA.com | Size, passing volume, transition and paint scoring, and a specific defended-shot analysis. |
| Draymond Green | 8.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks per game across the 11-season window through 2022–23. His bio lists .449 field-goal, .314 three-point and .712 free-throw percentages for that span. NBA.com | Defensive recognition and passing that connects an offense. |
| Scottie Pippen | Career averages of 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. NBA.com | A wing-forward reference for combining perimeter play and creation. |
| LeBron James | NBA.com says he has the most assists among all frontcourt players in NBA history. Its bio lists playoff averages of 28.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game across 287 playoff games. NBA.com | The upper-end historical example of frontcourt creation paired with major scoring responsibility—not a direct peer comparison. |
The table combines different career windows and, for James, postseason rather than regular-season figures. It should not be read as a ranking. A sounder comparison specifies the season and role, then considers minutes, turnovers, usage, teammates and responsibilities alongside assists.
Is Ben Simmons a good playmaker and defender?
Playmaking: passing volume is only one part of the job
Simmons’ 7.4 assists per game in the NBA.com bio’s 2017–24 window indicate that he regularly created scoring chances for teammates. But assists do not show the full burden of initiating offense, the turnovers involved, or how much a player’s team relies on him to create. Green’s cited 5.6 assists across 11 seasons through 2022–23 and Pippen’s 5.2 career assists are useful role references, not evidence that one player was a better playmaker in a shared season or equivalent role.
Rank #2
Green is the most useful contrast when the question is how passing fits into a broader team role: the comparison is between Simmons’ higher cited assist average and Green’s combination of passing with defensive recognition, not a claim that the two had identical responsibilities. Pippen helps frame a wing-forward creator, while James shows how frontcourt passing can accompany a much larger scoring load.
Defense: distinguish reputation from a measured sample
NBA.com’s film study reported that opponents shot 41.7% on defended attempts analyzed against Simmons, compared with 46.2% expected. That placed him ninth among 312 players who met the study’s threshold of 300 defended shots. These results apply to that article’s defended-shot sample; they are not a career-wide defensive rating or a universal estimate of his impact. NBA.com’s Ben Simmons film study
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Green is a useful defensive reference because his NBA.com bio records the 2016–17 Defensive Player of the Year award, alongside averages of 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks per game in its through-2022–23 window. Those facts establish recognition and selected box-score production, not a controlled defensive comparison with Simmons. Steals and blocks also leave out much of defense, including assignments, positioning and how a scheme shapes opponents’ options.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does Ben Simmons’s shooting compare with Draymond Green or LeBron James?
Start with shot type and opportunity rather than a lone field-goal percentage. Simmons’ .560 field-goal figure for the 2017–24 bio window comes alongside scoring that was notably oriented toward the paint and transition in the cited 2021 season. NBA.com’s 2021 All-Star feature ranked him fifth in the league in fast-break points at 4.0 per game and 12th in paint points at 12.1 per game. Those are season-specific historical rankings, not current-season numbers. NBA.com’s 2021 All-Star numbers to know
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The same Simmons bio lists a .589 free-throw percentage for its stated 2017–24 window. The cited extract does not establish a complete career three-point line, so it does not support a precise career three-point comparison with Green or James. Green’s .314 three-point figure applies to the 11-season period through 2022–23 in his bio; it is not a same-season comparison. The available figures therefore help describe different shooting profiles but cannot settle which player was the better shooter under matched conditions.
For a fair shooting comparison, look at three-point attempts and accuracy, free throws, paint scoring, shot volume and willingness to take each kind of shot. Field-goal percentage mixes those opportunities together, so players with different shot diets can have similar percentages without offering the same spacing or scoring value.
Quick Recap
Which comparisons are useful—and which are misleading?
- Use Green to examine how defense and connective passing can define a point-forward role.
- Use Pippen as a historical wing-forward playmaking reference, while keeping his career average distinct from Simmons’ stated six-season window.
- Use James to illustrate the historical scale of frontcourt creation and scoring responsibility; his playoff figures are not regular-season figures.
- Do not treat the cited averages as a head-to-head ranking. The sources do not provide a controlled, same-season dataset covering all four players.
- Separate defensive evidence. An award, steals and blocks, and an opponent-shot film-study result measure different things.
- Define the role before comparing. Who initiates, who guards which positions, the lineup’s spacing and the team’s scheme all affect what “point forward” means in practice.
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