Sacramento takes the flyer
Ben Simmons has a team again. The Sacramento Kings agreed terms with the Australian on a one-year contract worth $3.5 million, his agents confirmed to ESPN earlier today. For a former No. 1 overall pick and three-time All-Star, that number tells its own story.
Simmons sat out the whole of the 2025-26 season while dealing with the chronic back trouble that has shadowed most of his career. His last competitive basketball came with the Los Angeles Clippers, 18 games across March and April of 2025. Nothing since.
Word started circulating last month that he was practising without restrictions and had cleared himself to chase a return. Sacramento decided that was worth $3.5 million.
Try it for $0.99.
What the Kings are actually buying
The résumé is real. Philadelphia took him first overall out of LSU in 2016, injury pushed his debut back a full year, and he still walked off with Rookie of the Year in 2017-18. Two All-Defensive selections followed. At his peak he was a playmaking big man who defended across positions and ran an offence without needing a jump shot.
Availability is the problem. Simmons has not appeared in more than 58 games in a season since 2018-19. Across 383 career games with the 76ers, Brooklyn Nets and Clippers he averaged 13.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.5 steals, starting 344 of them. Most of that was compiled in Philadelphia between 2017 and 2021.
At 30, on a deal this size, he costs Sacramento almost nothing if the back gives out again.
A Los Angeles deadline in the distance
Simmons has also said he wants to play for Australia at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Two healthy NBA seasons would put that within reach. Another lost year probably ends the conversation.
The Kings open the preseason on October 5 against the visiting Lakers, then travel to face the Clippers in their regular-season opener on October 21. Simmons will be back in the building where he played his last NBA minutes.
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