At some point on Wednesday, you might have become aware of a story making the rounds on social media about NBA player Ben Simmons and his new venture as the owner of a pro fishing team.
That anecdote comes courtesy of Mark J. Spears, who profiled Simmons’s foray into the pro fishing world for Andscape.
The crux of the piece is that Simmons, currently a free agent focused on joining an NBA team at some point this season, is also pursuing his passion for fishing as the new controlling operator of the South Florida Sails of the Sport Fishing Championship.
The nine-year NBA veteran’s reputation has taken several hits since being named the 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year and the 2020 NBA All-Defensive First Team. His time with the Philadelphia 76ers ended about as severely as possible, thanks to a holdout and numerous injury issues. A fresh start with the Brooklyn Nets fizzled out, and his production with the Los Angeles Clippers last season was limited due to back problems.
All of that context is worth keeping in mind when considering how Spears’ piece was ultimately aggregated. With a lot of bad will and negative opinions about Simmons, it was not surprising to see aggregators, such as X’s Basketball Forever, boil the story down to a basic idea with viral potential.
Ben Simmons is putting his NBA return on hold to pursue a career in pro fishing 🎣🦈
(via Marc Spears) pic.twitter.com/V2cNjZoIfO
— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) December 23, 2025
“Ben Simmons is putting his NBA return on hold to pursue a career in pro fishing,” reads the caption.
That didn’t sit well with Spears, who took to X to refute the framing.
This is not factual. Please read the story. He’s rehabbing and in the midst of rehabbing he became a team owner. Please correct and take my name off this report.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) December 24, 2025
“This is not factual. Please read the story,” wrote Spears in a response. “He’s rehabbing and in the midst of rehabbing he became a team owner. Please correct and take my name off this report.”
Unfortunately for Spears, that wasn’t the only time he felt compelled to correct the article’s aggregation. He also responded to Yahoo Sports over a since-deleted aggregation effort.
In the article, Spears asks Simmons, “If a team offered you an opportunity right now, could you play right now?” The NBA veteran responds by saying, “Yeah. It depends on what I want to give them, though,” adding that he wants to “get my body to the best it’s been.”
One thing we will note is that the article’s headline doesn’t do Spears many favors in terms of framing. If someone were to read only “NBA return on hold, Ben Simmons angling for success in pro fishing,” without reading the article, they might take away the idea that Simmons has paused his efforts to return to the NBA.
Of course, that’s not an excuse. Aggregators have long been criticized for taking information out of context or simply reading headlines and creating content based on them. As always, you should read the entire article before aggregating or sharing your opinions on what was written.
Though if you’ve spent any time on the internet recently, you know what a tall ask that is.