Three-time NBA All-Star Ben Simmons is again within the NBA after agreeing to a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Sacramento Kings on Friday, sources inform Andscape and ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Simmons returns to the NBA after lacking the 2025-26 season to rehabilitate lingering again and leg accidents. Now wholesome, the 6-foot-10, 240-pounder impressed Kings basic supervisor Scott Perry when he labored out for him in Miami and had an hourlong assembly in late August.
Simmons additionally traveled to Sacramento to go to the Kings and impressed head coach Doug Christie and different members of the basketball workers throughout a exercise on the group’s observe facility on Monday that included an in-depth medical examination, on-court exercise and a gathering with all the teaching workers.
In the next days, the Kings provided a Simmons a contract with the expectation of him being a backup level guard for rookie Darius Acuff Jr. and play positions one by means of 5. For the Kings, Simmons serves as a high-upside reclamation mission who nonetheless has years left in his perspective prime.
Simmons’ inventory rose after he performed properly whereas being a full participant in a minicamp with the Australia males’s basketball nationwide group in early August. The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors expressed curiosity in Simmons that might have led to a possible coaching camp invite. The Kings, nonetheless, have been the one NBA group to supply him contract. A supply mentioned Simmons is happy about taking part in for the Kings and believes the group will give him the help and alternative he has hoped for in his return to the NBA.
The Kings completed 22-60 final season, tying for the worst file within the Western Conference. They waived DeMar DeRozan in July and did not convey again free agent Russell Westbrook, leaving them with a gap on the guard place.
Simmons was the No. 1 general choose by the Philadelphia 76ers within the 2016 NBA draft out of LSU. The Melbourne, Australia native gained the 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year award and was an NBA All-Defensive first-team choice in 2020.
The 30-year-old’s NBA profession has additionally included quite a few challenges, together with lacking the 2016-17 season with a foot damage, lacking all the 2021-22 NBA season amid a contract holdout, psychological well being issues and varied bodily illnesses.
Simmons has averaged 13.1 factors, 7.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.5 steals in 383 regular-season video games for the 76ers, the Brooklyn Nets and the LA Clippers. After being waived following a buyout with the Nets on Feb. 8, 2025, Simmons averaged 2.9 factors, 3.8 rebounds and three.1 assists with the Clippers whereas taking part in restricted minutes and preventing again points in 18 video games final season.
Simmons’ final NBA recreation was Game 5 of the 2025 Western Conference First Round on April 29, 2025 whereas taking part in for the Clippers in opposition to the Denver Nuggets. He advised Andscape in July that he felt as wholesome as he had in years and believed he was prepared to return to the NBA.
During his NBA hiatus, he bought a 50% possession stake within the South Florida Sails skilled angling membership in December 2025, changing into the group’s controlling operator.