Ben Simmons Returns to NBA with Sacramento Kings
Ben Simmons is back in the NBA.
After a year out of the league and nearly a decade of turbulence, the former No. 1 pick has agreed to a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Sacramento Kings, according to ESPN, filling the team’s final roster spot. A source close to the team confirmed the agreement, ending a long stretch of uncertainty around one of the most polarizing careers of his generation.
This is not a comeback from obscurity. It’s a return from the edge.
From LSU prodigy to sidelined No. 1 pick
Simmons arrived in the NBA with the weight of inevitability on his shoulders. At LSU in 2015-16, he looked like the prototype for the modern star: 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, two steals and nearly a block per game as a freshman. A 6-foot-10 playmaker who could rebound, initiate offense and guard multiple positions. The league doesn’t ignore that kind of profile.
Philadelphia didn’t. The 76ers took him No. 1 overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, expecting him to fast-track their rebuild.
Then he never played a game that first year.
Simmons rolled his ankle in his first practice, suffering a fracture in his right foot and ankle. The injury never healed in time. The entire 2016-17 season disappeared before it even began, a strange opening chapter for a player tagged as a franchise cornerstone.
The rise: Rookie of the Year and an All-Star trajectory
Once he finally stepped on the floor, the talent hit immediately.
In 2017-18, Simmons claimed Rookie of the Year honors, technically still a rookie after missing that first season. He averaged 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks, powering Philadelphia back into the postseason. The Sixers fell in the second round to the Boston Celtics in five games, but the message was clear: their new point forward belonged at the top tier.
The next step came quickly. In 2018-19, Simmons made his first All-Star team. Philadelphia loaded up, and the Sixers pushed to the Eastern Conference semifinals, only to lose in seven games to the eventual champion Toronto Raptors on Kawhi Leonard’s now-iconic series-winning shot. Simmons, even then, drew scrutiny for his reluctance to shoot from distance, but his overall impact remained undeniable.
On the other end of the floor, he turned that potential into production. By 2019-20, he had established himself as one of the league’s premier defenders, earning first-team All-Defense honors and another All-Star nod. Yet Boston again sent the Sixers home early, sweeping them in the first round.
The 2020-21 season cemented his reputation as an elite stopper and versatile playmaker. Simmons made the All-Star team again, landed on the All-Defense first team again, and finished as runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year. He guarded all five positions, pushed the break, and served as the fulcrum of Philadelphia’s offense.
Then came Atlanta. And the play that changed everything.
Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Sixers trailed the Hawks 88-86 with 3:30 left when Simmons turned down a wide-open dunk or layup at the rim, choosing to pass instead. Philadelphia never recovered. Neither did his standing with the franchise or the fan base. That single decision became the symbol of every criticism that had ever followed him.
Trade demand, mental strain and a battered body
The fallout was swift and brutal.
Simmons requested a trade in the 2021 offseason and stayed away from the team, skipping training camp and preseason. He cited mental health struggles as part of his absence, even as the relationship with the organization frayed. The holdout, the public debate over his mindset, the pressure from all sides — it all piled on.
He did not play a game for the Sixers in 2021-22. Officially, a back injury compounded the situation. Unofficially, the weight of the previous postseason lingered over everything. In February 2022, Philadelphia finally moved him to the Brooklyn Nets.
The fresh start never fully materialized.
Simmons returned in 2022-23 but managed only 43 games, limited by knee problems and persistent back issues. The following season, 2023-24, the back trouble worsened. He appeared in just 15 games for Brooklyn before being shut down again, eventually needing surgery.
The stop-start pattern became his new normal. In 2024-25, he played 33 games for the Nets before they waived him. The Los Angeles Clippers took a flier in February 2025, but he suited up only 18 times, clearly short of his former athleticism and mobility. Once the season ended, so did his brief stint in L.A. He hit free agency with more questions than answers.
Then he disappeared from the league entirely.
Simmons sat out the entire 2025-26 season, focusing solely on rehabbing his body and, by extension, his career. No box scores, no cameos, no late-season signings. Just the long, quiet work of trying to get healthy enough to play again.
Sacramento’s gamble on size, defense and a second act
Now he resurfaces in Sacramento, where the Kings see opportunity in what’s left of his game.
They are not asking him to be the franchise. They already have Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis and Darius Acuff Jr., the No. 7 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, headlining the roster. What they need is another ball handler, another big body who can organize the offense and set a defensive tone.
Simmons fits that vision if his body holds up.
At 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, he gives general manager Scott Perry and head coach Doug Christie exactly the kind of physical profile they’ve been preaching about. Both have spoken publicly about building a rugged defensive identity. Simmons, when right, embodies that. A source close to the team described belief in his ability to defend every position, a trait that could instantly make Sacramento a bigger, more switchable group.
He is expected to start as the backup point guard behind Acuff, while also sharing the floor with the rookie in certain lineups. That dual role — stabilizer for the second unit and oversized partner in creative lineups — reflects where his career stands now. Less about superstardom, more about impact.
He will not walk into a strange locker room, either. Simmons and LaVine go back to their younger days, while Sabonis and Simmons entered the league together in that 2016 draft class. Familiar faces can matter when a player is trying to rebuild trust in his body and his game.
Inside the organization, there is cautious optimism that the worst of his injury history is finally behind him. The Kings are betting $3.5 million and a roster spot that his back can cooperate and his confidence can return.
For Simmons, this is not just another contract. It is a chance to prove that his story in the NBA is not frozen at that moment under the rim against Atlanta, not defined solely by missed seasons and rehab reports.
Sacramento is giving him a lane.
What he does with it could reshape not only his own legacy, but the ceiling of a Kings team intent on growing up fast in the Western Conference.
