Jonathon Simmons visited New York for the first time this year.

Toronto and Washington, D.C., too.

Those are the perks of traveling with an NBA team.

It’s different in the Development League, where destinations include Hidalgo, Texas; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Sometimes, Development Leaguers travel by bus.

“You’re on the sleeper, for like eight hours,” said Simmons, the Spurs’ rookie guard who spent the past two seasons in the D-League with Austin. “You don’t get much sleep at all.”

You could say Simmons is sleeping a little easier these days.

Rescued from life in the D-League after what he believes might have been his final shot, Simmons finds himself fighting for a home in the Spurs’ rotation.

The 26-year-old Houston native has averaged 18.3 minutes in seven December appearances, producing 8.3 points and at least one jaw-dropping highlight per night.

It is a trend Simmons will hope to continue Wednesday as the Spurs continue a four-game homestand against Washington.

“His athleticism is through the roof,” guard Patty Mills said. “That’s the one thing that stands above the rest. He can catch alley-oops, which we are not used to throwing.”

As even the newest of newcomers to the Spurs Way might understand, dunks don’t impress coach Gregg Popovich much.

Popovich wants players who can fit squarely into a system on both ends of the floor. Dunks are optional.

At times this month, Popovich has opted to play Simmons alongside four starters for stretches of games, just to see how he reacts.

“I want him to play with that group and get used to it, let him know what it means to play solid and not try to show how good you really are,” Popovich said.

So far, Simmons has excited his teammates with what feels like boundless energy, his tenacity on defense, and his ability to get to the foul line.

Popovich has been pleasantly surprised by Simmons’ passing ability, which he honed as a point guard in the D-League.

In a quality mandatory for a rookie on the Spurs, Simmons has also shown an acute ability to take constructive criticism.

There has been much of it.

“Pop’s going to be tough on guys like that,” Spurs captain Tim Duncan said. “He’s going to have a short leash with guys like that. He’s taken his minutes and made the most of it.”

For Simmons, it has been quite a head-spinning trip from the D-League to bona fide NBA playing time.

Two summers ago, Simmons was ready to give up on basketball.

He had made the Austin club — then named the Toros — through an open tryout, scraping together a $150 enrollment fee.

After one season of two-star hotels and occasional Greyhound bus trips, and playing for less than $25,000, Simmons was ready to give up on the dream.

“It’s humbling,” Simmons said of D-League life. “It’s really a grind between the travel and the back-to-backs.”

In the summer of 2014, Simmons called friends back home and told them he was thinking of quitting to find a 9-to-5 day job.

Europe might have offered a more lucrative basketball gig, but with four children to support in Texas, Simmons didn’t view that as a viable alternative.

He decided to return to Austin for another season.

“That year was my one more time,” Simmons said. “I was giving myself a shot before I settle.”

When the Spurs signed Simmons in July, with $525,093 of his two-year, $1.4 million deal guaranteed, he was playing with the Brooklyn Nets’ Summer League team in Orlando.

He hoofed it to Las Vegas to join the Spurs’ entry there, and was named Most Valuable Player of the championship game.

As Simmons has grown more comfortable with the Spurs, he has begun to flash some of the promise that made him a summertime star.

With Danny Green still struggling to find his footing, and Manu Ginobili being 38, Simmons provides Popovich another nightly option at shooting guard.

“He’s got huge potential in the fact that he’s young, athletic, gets out on the break,” Mills said. “He can definitely bring that energy off the bench.”

Simmons still has mornings when he wakes up — perhaps in a five-star hotel room in New York, Toronto or Washington D.C. — and wonders if maybe he is still dreaming.

“I still do have that moment, especially when I’m talking to my homeboys back home,” Simmons said. “They keep reminding me how crazy this is.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN