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Ben Simmons can expect a baptism of fire when he pulls on a Philadelphia 76ers jersey and leads his team on the court for the first time.
The Australian 19-year-old will face a Boston Celtics squad on Monday (Tuesday 9am AEST) filled with young, jealous and desperate players aiming to take him down.
» Catch every minute of Simmons’ debut season with our Ben Simmons NBA fixtures page
» Learn how you can watch every NBA game this season with our Australian NBA live streaming and TV guide
Celtics rookie guard Jaylen Brown, who sat in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center at the recent NBA Draft and watched as Simmons was selected first by the 76ers, told reporters he was ready to “rip somebody’s head off”.
Simmons and Brown, picked third by the Celtics, will make their much-anticipated debuts in an NBA Summer League game in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The last obstacle preventing Simmons from taking to the court was erased when the 76ers announced on Sunday he had signed his rookie contract.
“Happy to say I’m a part of the family #Sixers,” Simmons wrote in a tweet accompanied by a photo taken while he signed the contract worth more than $US16 million ($A21.5 million) the next three years.
The 76ers likely paid him the maximum allowed for his first year: $US5.9 million ($A7.9 million).
The 76ers will play three Summer League games this week in Salt Lake City and then join 23 other NBA teams for the 10-day Las Vegas Summer League tournament.
Summer League teams are made up of recently acquired draft picks, second-year players and desperate young free agents hoping to score a contract, just as undrafted Australian guard Matthew Dellavedova did three years ago with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Simmons, as last month’s top draft pick, will have a bounty on his head, with opposing players looking to outplay the Australian.
Brown has not hidden his dislike for the 76ers’ decision to take Simmons ahead of him.
At a Celtics basketball camp for children last week a video went viral of Brown playing a young, chubby boy in a game of one-on-one.
Brown dunked on the boy when the boy taunted him with: “You ain’t good. Ben Simmons is better”.
“I said, ‘All right, OK’,” 19-year-old, 201cm tall, Brown said.
Simmons will also go head-to-head with the Celtics’ 23-year-old second round 2015 draft pick Marcus Thornton, who spent last year in the NBL with the Sydney Kings.
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