The hosts had the first chance of the game after just three minutes, but it was squandered by former Middlesbrough forward Kike Garcia, who entered the penalty box and hit a shot on the turn over the bar.
However, that early sighter only served in waking Athletic up and they took the lead before the 10-minute mark.
Inaki Williams picked the ball up in midfield and played a beautifully-weighted pass to meet the perfectly-timed run of Unai Gomez, who slid the ball past the onrushing Antonio Sivera - a strike that came almost a year to the day since the 21 year-old’s last goal.
Subsequently, chances were at a premium, with Mikel Jauregizar wasting one when firing over from 25 yards. Alaves struggled to create anything of note, as Simon easily stopped Carlos Martin’s low effort to bring a disappointing first half for Eduardo Coudet’s men to an end.
Ten minutes into the second half, Athletic were a stud’s length away from doubling their lead when Alex Berenguer couldn’t stretch enough to get on the end of Nico Williams’ curling shot.
Shortly after, at the other end, Yuri Berchiche survived a handball shout after making a mess of a clearance in his own box.
The hosts, however, were still struggling for any forward momentum until Simon uncharacteristically gave them a helping hand on 67 minutes when he spilled Jon Guridi’s low, hard effort.
Sevilla loanee Joan Jordan reacted quickest to snaffle up the rebound for his first of the season to equalise and send the home fans into raptures.
Athletic thought they had snatched three points in stoppage time when Dani Vivian finished neatly from a corner, but referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martínez spotted a foul in the build-up and they had to settle for a share of the spoils.
The point sees them extend their buffer over fifth-placed RCD Mallorca, one position below them in the table, but Villarreal in sixth do have three games in hand which could see them move above them.