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Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
So just why did Ben Simmons choose to try his NBA comeback with the Sacramento Kings? Insider Marc Spears lets us in on his thinking and says the former All-Star could be in SacTown for the long run.
REPORT: Ben Simmons is open to a long-term stay with the Kings, per @MarcJSpears.
“One thing he likes about Sacramento is… he’s never played in a small market and sometimes that’s a safer haven. You go to Sacramento, it’s about basketball. I’d put their fans up there with… pic.twitter.com/MZno4SMwGS
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) September 5, 2026
‘”I feel better. I feel ready,’ he said this summer… Teams still weren’t interested in July… I think what turned things around for the Kings was him going to play a mini-camp in his native Australia. I heard he played extremely well… “
After showing years of disinterest and very little desire to compete, Simmons dedicated himself this offseason to getting back in shape and making another run at the NBA. But he spurned interest from marquee teams like the NBA champion New York Knicks as well as the Golden State Warriors before signing with Sacramento. The Miami Heat also showed interest at some point.
The bright lights of Broadway? South Beach? The legendary Warriors of Steph Curry and four NBA championships in the last decade? Or the quiet, out-of-the-spotlight homey feel of Sacramento? The choice, for someone like Simmons, was obvious.
Sacramento is the ideal small-market type of ‘safe haven’ that Simmons could be happy in
“One thing he likes about Sacramento is… he’s never played in a small market and sometimes that’s a safer haven. You go to Sacramento, it’s about basketball. I’d put their fans up there with anyone in the world,” Spears said. “I think the pressure is off for the first time in his career. Not that there’s no pressure, but it isn’t like, you know, excruciating pressure on him. I think the media up there for the most part, and the fans, are going to put their arms around him and be like, ‘Hey, let’s see what you can do.’
“Sacramento offers the opportunity to not only play, but also to be supported.”
Simmons infamously shrunk under the playoff pressure in Philadelphia back at the beginning of the decade. His notorious moment of refusing to go in for a dunk for fear of being foulded and sent to the line in a Game 7 marked the end of his 3-time All-Star stay in the tough market of Philly.
He held out the next season, only to eventually be traded to Brooklyn (i.e. New York City). There, he didn’t want to take the court his first year. He played 42 games the next season with his scoring average going down close to 10 points per game, to 6.9 ppg. From the free-throw line, his 60% career mark dropped to 43.9%. He stayed off the court for all but 15 games the next season in Brooklyn, and his numbers declined even further.
In 2024-25, his last time active in the NBA, he was traded from Brooklyn to the LA Clippers. Los Angeles? The Hollywood Hills? Again, not exactly a pressure-free environment for the reluctant baller (even if it was just the Clippers). Simmons averaged just 2.9 points in 18 games in LA.
Ben Simmons is ‘a pretty loyal guy’ and could be looking at a long-term stay in Sacramento
From there, in the summer of 2025, Simmons left basketball behind, and threw himself into… professional sport fishing?
Now, however, the former first-overall pick is angling to return to the court, and the Kings just happened to have an opening in the backcourt after the free agency and subsequent retirement of another controversial point guard, Russell Westbrook.
Kings GM Scott Perry watched Simmons play in that mini-camp with the Aussie national team earlier this summer. Perry was convinced. He went to watch Simmons work out in Miami before he flew to Sacramento for another private workout. “Within minutes, (head coach) Doug Christie was like, ‘I’m good. Let’s get him. He looked great,’” Spears said.
Now, he could be there to stay. IF he has a good year and the Kings want him to bring him back, Spears believes it could be a long-term marriage with Sacramento. He said Simmons is a “pretty loyal guy” and said that, if the opportunity is right, “I think he’d want to stay.”