Ben Simmons Signs with Sacramento Kings: A New Opportunity
Ben Simmons is back in the NBA. Not in theory, not in workout videos, not as a name on an injury report. On a roster. On a contract. On a chance.
The former No. 1 pick has agreed to a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Sacramento Kings, filling their final open roster spot, a person close to the team confirmed. ESPN first reported the agreement. For a player whose career once looked destined for superstardom and then seemed to be slipping away under the weight of injuries and scrutiny, this is more than a signing. It’s a reset.
From LSU phenom to sidelined No. 1 pick
Simmons arrived in the league with the kind of hype reserved for franchise saviors. At LSU in 2015-16, he stuffed the box score like few freshmen ever have: 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, two steals and nearly a block per game. He looked like a prototype built for the modern NBA — a 6-foot-10 playmaker who could rebound, handle, pass and guard all over the floor.
Philadelphia made it official in 2016, taking him No. 1 overall. The plan was simple: build around Simmons and Joel Embiid and end “The Process” with banners.
The league had to wait.
Simmons rolled his ankle in his first practice, suffering a fracture in his right foot and ankle. The injury never properly healed that year. He missed the entire 2016-17 season, his debut delayed before it ever began.
The rise: Rookie of the Year and an ascending star
Once he finally got on the court, he justified the wait.
In 2017-18, Simmons played like a ready-made star. He averaged 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks, powering the 76ers back to the playoffs and claiming Rookie of the Year honors. Philadelphia reached the second round before bowing out to the Boston Celtics in five games, but the message was clear: the Sixers had arrived, and Simmons was central to it.
The following season, he took the next step into the league’s elite. Simmons earned his first All-Star selection in 2018-19 as Philadelphia pushed deep into the postseason again. Their run ended in one of the most famous shots in NBA history — Kawhi Leonard’s bouncing, hanging, season-ending dagger in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals for the Toronto Raptors.
Simmons kept building his résumé. In 2019-20 he became a first-team All-Defense selection and made another All-Star team, cementing his reputation as one of the league’s premier perimeter defenders and playmakers. Still, the Sixers stumbled, swept out of the first round by Boston.
The 2020-21 season showcased the full version of Simmons at his peak. Another All-Star nod. Another All-Defense first-team honor. Runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year. He anchored Philadelphia’s defense, initiated their offense and looked like the rare two-way star teams spend years trying to find.
Then came Atlanta. Game 7. The play that followed him everywhere.
Trailing the Hawks 88-86 with just over three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Simmons turned down a wide-open dunk or layup under the rim and passed the ball. The Sixers never recovered, losing the series. The moment became a flashpoint — unfairly simplified at times, but undeniably a turning point in how he was viewed and, more importantly, how he viewed himself in that environment.
His career changed that night.
Trade demand, mental strain and a body that wouldn’t cooperate
The fallout was immediate and messy. Simmons requested a trade in the 2021 offseason and stayed away from the team, skipping training camp and preseason. He cited mental health reasons as he stepped away, while his relationship with the franchise frayed in full public view.
He never played for the Sixers that season. A back issue compounded the mental toll and the trade standoff. In February 2022, Philadelphia sent him to the Brooklyn Nets, but the fresh start never really materialized on the floor.
Simmons’ back and knees kept betraying him. He appeared in just 43 games in 2022-23, battling knee problems and lingering back pain. The following season, 2023-24, the pattern worsened. He played only 15 games before being shut down again, his back requiring surgery.
By 2024-25, the former franchise cornerstone had become a question mark. He played 33 games for Brooklyn before the Nets waived him. The Los Angeles Clippers took a midseason flier in February 2025, but Simmons managed only 18 appearances, still limited by his physical condition and diminished mobility. When the season ended, he hit free agency carrying more doubts than offers.
So he stopped. Completely.
Simmons sat out the entire 2025-26 season, stepping away from the grind of flights, practices and constant evaluation to focus solely on his body and his rehab. No cameos. No late-season pushes. Just the long, quiet work of trying to get healthy enough to play again.
Sacramento’s gamble: size, defense and a second life
Now, the Kings are betting that work has paid off.
Sacramento believes Simmons can help right away, and not as a nostalgia project. On a roster headlined by Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis and 2026 No. 7 pick Darius Acuff Jr., Simmons offers something different: a 6-foot-10, 240-pound ball handler who can organize an offense and guard across the floor.
He won’t walk into the starting job. A source close to the team indicated Simmons is expected to open the season as the backup point guard behind Acuff, though the Kings also see lineups where both share the floor. That kind of flexibility is exactly what made him so valuable at his peak.
He won’t be walking into a locker room full of strangers, either. Simmons and LaVine go back to their younger days, and Sabonis entered the league in the same 2016 draft class. There’s history there, a shared understanding of what it means to carry expectations from day one.
General manager Scott Perry and head coach Doug Christie have made no secret of the identity they want: a team that competes, that defends, that leans into physicality. Simmons, at his best, fits that vision perfectly. His frame and instincts allow him to guard every position, and a source close to the team said there is real belief that his versatility can help Sacramento play bigger without sacrificing ball-handling or playmaking.
The risk is obvious. His back has cost him seasons, not weeks. His confidence and mental health have been tested in ways few stars endure in such a compressed window. The Kings know all of that.
They’re signing him anyway.
There’s optimism in Sacramento that the worst of Simmons’ injury history is behind him, that the year away has given his body and mind the space they needed. For the Kings, it’s a calculated swing on a former All-Star who once controlled games without needing to score 30. For Simmons, it’s something simpler and far more personal.
One more chance to prove his story in the NBA isn’t finished yet.
