Ben Simmons Signs with Sacramento Kings for Comeback
Ben Simmons is back in the NBA. Not in theory, not as a training-camp flyer, but on a guaranteed deal, on a roster with real ambitions. The Sacramento Kings have given one of the league’s most polarizing talents a one-year, $3.5 million shot at rewriting his story.
For a player once billed as a franchise cornerstone, that number is jarring. For Simmons, it represents something else entirely: a way back in.
From LSU phenom to delayed debut
Before the noise, before the memes and the scrutiny, there was the kid at LSU who looked like the future of the league.
In Baton Rouge, Simmons stuffed box scores with ease: 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, two steals and nearly a block per game as a freshman in 2015-16. He handled the ball like a guard, rebounded like a center and saw passes most wings never try. Scouts didn’t overthink it. Philadelphia took him No. 1 in the 2016 NBA Draft, convinced they had found the perfect engine for their “Process” revival.
Then he never played a game that first year.
In his first practice, Simmons rolled his ankle. The sprain revealed a fracture in his right foot and ankle that never properly healed. The 2016-17 season disappeared into rehab and frustration. The Sixers waited. The league waited. The debut of the No. 1 pick became a year-long cliffhanger.
The rise: an instant star in Philadelphia
When Simmons finally arrived, he wasted no time justifying the hype.
Because he hadn’t logged a minute as a rookie, he qualified for the 2017-18 Rookie of the Year race and ran away with it. He averaged 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks, dragging Philadelphia from rebuilding project to playoff team. The Sixers reached the postseason and made the second round before bowing out to the Boston Celtics in five games.
The numbers told one story. The eye test told another. At 6-foot-10, he pushed the ball like a point guard and defended across the floor. He didn’t just fit the modern NBA; he seemed built for it.
The accolades followed quickly. In 2018-19, Simmons earned his first All-Star selection. Philadelphia’s season ended in one of the most iconic shots in league history, Kawhi Leonard’s bouncing, hanging dagger in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, as the Toronto Raptors marched toward a title. Simmons still looked like a long-term All-NBA presence.
The next season, 2019-20, he doubled down on his defensive reputation. He made first-team All-Defense and reached another All-Star Game, anchoring a Philadelphia team that leaned on his length and instincts on the perimeter. The Sixers, though, were swept in the first round by Boston, and the sense of stalled progress started to creep in.
In 2020-21, Simmons again made the All-Star team, again landed on the All-Defense first team and finished runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year. On paper, it was his most complete season. On the court, the Sixers claimed the East’s No. 1 seed.
Then came Atlanta. Then came Game 7.
Trailing 88-86 with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter of that Eastern Conference semifinal, Simmons caught the ball near the rim with a clear path to either dunk or lay it in. He passed out of it. The play instantly became a flashpoint, a symbol of his shooting reluctance and eroding confidence. Philadelphia lost the series. His relationship with the franchise never recovered.
It didn’t just change that game. It changed his career.
The toll: injuries, mental health and a long absence
The summer that followed turned into a standoff.
Simmons asked for a trade in the 2021 offseason and held out, skipping training camp and preseason. He cited mental health reasons for his absence. At the same time, a back issue emerged. The combination of physical problems, mental strain from the previous postseason and the trade impasse kept him off the floor for the entire 2021-22 campaign.
In February 2022, Philadelphia finally moved him to the Brooklyn Nets. The change of scenery promised a reset. His body had other ideas.
Simmons returned in 2022-23 but only managed 43 games, limited by persistent knee trouble and the same lingering back problems that had dogged him. The following year, 2023-24, his back flared again. He appeared in just 15 games for Brooklyn before the team shut him down. Surgery followed.
By the 2024-25 season, the Nets cut ties. Simmons played 33 games for Brooklyn before being waived. The Los Angeles Clippers picked him up in February 2025, hoping to tap into his playmaking and size. He suited up 18 times, still visibly compromised, his mobility and explosiveness a shadow of what they once were. When the season ended, so did his contract. He hit free agency with more questions than answers.
Then he stopped. Completely.
Simmons sat out the entire 2025-26 season, stepping away from the league to focus solely on his body and his rehab. No cameo appearances, no late-season pushes. Just a year of trying to rebuild himself away from the nightly spotlight.
Sacramento’s bet: size, defense and a second chance
Now, after all of that, Sacramento has decided the risk is worth the potential reward.
The Kings have signed Simmons to a one-year deal worth $3.5 million, filling their final open roster spot. A source close to the team confirmed the agreement, first reported by ESPN, and described a belief inside the organization that Simmons is “fresh and ready” to play meaningful minutes again.
On paper, the fit intrigues. Sacramento already features Zach LaVine as a scoring wing, Domantas Sabonis as a playmaking big, and Darius Acuff Jr., the No. 7 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, as their point guard of the future. Simmons slides in as an extra ball handler, a secondary creator who can relieve pressure on the rookie and bend matchups with his size.
He won’t walk into a locker room of strangers, either. Simmons and LaVine first crossed paths when they were young, long before either became an NBA name. Sabonis and Simmons share a draft class, taken just picks apart a decade ago. There’s a shared history there, a familiarity that can help ease a player back from the margins.
The plan, for now, is clear. According to a source close to the team, Simmons is expected to operate primarily as the backup point guard behind Acuff, with the flexibility to share the floor with him when the Kings want more size and playmaking. That kind of versatility is exactly what Sacramento’s front office has been chasing.
General manager Scott Perry and head coach Doug Christie have repeatedly stressed their desire to build a rugged defensive identity. Simmons fits that vision on paper as well as anyone available at this price point. At 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, he gives the Kings another long, physical defender who can credibly switch across positions. Internally, there’s a belief he can guard every spot on the floor, turning Sacramento into a bigger, more imposing unit.
The questions about his back and his legs remain. The Kings know that. They’re betting that the year off, the rehab and the reset have given him a real chance to move past the injuries that derailed him in Brooklyn and Los Angeles.
For Simmons, this isn’t a return to superstardom. Not yet. It’s something more basic, and in some ways more meaningful: a return to relevance, to a role, to the nightly grind of an NBA season.
Sacramento has taken its swing. Now the league waits to see whether a former No. 1 pick can turn one more opportunity into the kind of comeback that once seemed impossible.
