Ben Simmons is back. The former No. 1 overall pick has agreed to a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Sacramento Kings, per Shams Charania and Marc Spears of ESPN, closing a 12-month chapter away from the league. Simmons, 30, sat out the entire 2025-26 season rehabbing back and leg injuries that ended his time with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Before the deal was confirmed, he traveled to Sacramento for a medical evaluation, an on-court workout and meetings with coach Doug Christie and Kings staffers, per NBA.com. The club believes he gives them something rare at minimum cost: a 6-foot-10 switchable defender who can guard all five positions and trigger transition offense without demanding heavy shot volume.
The role Sacramento mapped out
The Kings plan to use Simmons as a backup point guard and versatile wing defender off the bench. That fits what he actually does well, sidestepping his long-documented reluctance to shoot from range. Behind De’Aaron Fox’s pace-first attack, Simmons does not need to be an offensive hub. He needs to stay healthy, disrupt on the other end and hold the second unit together.
Sacramento posted its strongest regular-season record in years before a first-round playoff exit. Bringing in a three-time All-Star on a minimum-level deal carries virtually zero financial risk. If Simmons logs 60-plus games without a setback, the Kings will look back on this as the best-value signing of the late offseason.
A career that needed a reset
Simmons won Rookie of the Year in 2018 with Philadelphia, made the All-Star Game in consecutive seasons and earned the All-Defensive First Team twice before his catastrophic 2021 playoff collapse against Atlanta fractured his relationship with the Sixers and, for a while, with basketball itself. Brooklyn followed, then Los Angeles, then a full year on the sidelines.
His numbers from healthy Clippers appearances still reflected a capable contributor: around 8 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in limited minutes, alongside the defensive intensity that has always separated him. He turns 30 in October. Sacramento, with its young core and up-tempo identity, may offer the low-pressure environment where that version of Simmons surfaces again.
Sources: ESPN (Shams Charania, Marc Spears), NBA.com, CBS Sports.
