Simmons interest in Magic hook up

MAGIC Johnson and Ben Simmons have sent the basketball world into a spin with the NBA great and the Australian star confirming they might work out together in the offseason.

Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers’ president of basketball operations who is desperate to add All-Stars alongside LeBron James, was cautious with his words, having been fined $US550,000 already over comments about Paul George and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The 208cm Simmons is often compared to 206cm Hall of Famer Johnson for size and style of play.

“Trying to learn from somebody like that would be huge,” Simmons said after his Philadelphia 76ers trounced the visiting Lakers 143-120.

Simmons had eight points, three rebounds and seven assists but the reigning rookie of the year caused a stir on Sunday when he took the first legitimate three-pointer of his fledgling NBA career.

He rarely attempts a jump shot outside the key and the Boston Celtics took advantage of that in last year’s playoffs by daring him to shoot. When queried about the shot, which bounced off the rim, the Australian downplayed it.

“[They want me to] be more aggressive, take more open shots, and just try to grow my game in that way,” he said.

Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said he spoke with Simmons about longer shot attempts.

Sixers star Joel Embiid said he let out an expletive when he saw Simmons fire up the three.

“It caught me off guard,” Embiid said.

On a possible working relationship with Simmons, Johnson said the Australian had sought the contact.

“He reached out to me, not to me directly, but to the Lakers, to find out if we could get together this summer,” Johnson told reporters.

“I said, ‘ Hey, you’ve got to clear it with the league.’ ”

“Everybody, the Sixers sign off, we sign off, the league signs off that there’s not nothing going on.

“But he wants to know how to play the position as a big guard. I will do that, but if everybody doesn’t sign off, then we can’t get together.”