Ben Simmons Signs with Sacramento Kings for 2024 Season

Ben Simmons is back in the NBA. Not in theory, not in rumor, not as a rehab update on social media. On a roster. On a contract. With a role.

The Sacramento Kings have taken the swing.

Simmons has agreed to a one-year, $3.5 million deal with Sacramento, filling the franchise’s final open roster spot, a person close to the team confirmed. ESPN first reported the agreement. For a player once framed as a franchise cornerstone, the number is modest. The bet is not.

This is the latest turn in one of the most turbulent careers of the modern NBA era — a No. 1 pick who flashed superstardom, absorbed public scrutiny at a rare volume, and then disappeared from the floor entirely last season to rebuild his body and mind.

Now he walks into a locker room that believes he can still help them win.

From LSU prodigy to sidelined No. 1 pick

Before the noise, there was dominance.

At LSU in 2015-16, Simmons looked like a prototype built for the modern game: 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, two steals and nearly a block per night as a freshman. A 6-foot-10 playmaker who could rebound, initiate offense, defend multiple spots and bend the game without needing to score 30.

Philadelphia didn’t overthink it. The 76ers took him first overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, sold a vision of a jumbo point guard to pair with Joel Embiid, and waited for the payoff.

They had to wait longer than expected.

Simmons rolled his ankle in his first practice, suffering a fracture in his right foot and ankle. The injury never healed in time. He missed the entire 2016-17 season, a year that was supposed to be his introduction and instead became a delay.

Rookie of the Year and the rise in Philadelphia

When Simmons finally stepped on an NBA floor, he looked ready-made.

Because he never played in that first season, he qualified as a rookie in 2017-18 and stormed to Rookie of the Year honors. He averaged 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks, driving the 76ers into the playoffs and validating the franchise’s long-term gamble.

Philadelphia’s run ended in the second round, a five-game loss to the Boston Celtics, but Simmons’ trajectory pointed straight up.

The next season he earned his first All-Star selection. The Sixers loaded up, pushed deep into the postseason again, and bowed out in a seven-game classic to the Toronto Raptors, sealed by Kawhi Leonard’s bouncing, hanging, series-winning shot. Simmons was already one of the league’s most unique engines — a non-shooting guard who still dictated tempo and created advantages.

His impact sharpened on the other end of the floor. In 2019-20, Simmons made first-team All-Defense and returned to the All-Star Game. He hounded guards, switched onto bigs, and covered the gaps in front of the rim. The Celtics swept Philadelphia in the first round that year, but his defensive credentials were no longer in question.

The 2020-21 season might have been his peak as a two-way force. Again an All-Star. Again first-team All-Defense. Runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year. The 76ers finished atop the Eastern Conference and expected a deep run.

Instead, they crashed out at home in Game 7 of the conference semifinals to the Atlanta Hawks.

That night, one play became a turning point. With Philadelphia trailing 88-86 and 3:30 left, Simmons caught the ball near the rim and passed up what looked like an open dunk or layup. The sequence fed into every criticism about his reluctance to shoot and quickly came to define his time in Philadelphia.

His career never felt the same again.

Injuries, mental health and a long fall

The fallout hit fast.

Simmons asked for a trade in the 2021 offseason and stayed away from the team, skipping training camp and the preseason. He cited mental health reasons for his absence. A back issue emerged as well. The standoff with the 76ers lasted months and ended only when Philadelphia sent him to the Brooklyn Nets in February 2022.

He didn’t play that season. The combination of back problems, the mental toll from the prior year’s collapse and the trade saga kept him out for the entire 2021-22 campaign.

When he returned in 2022-23, it was only in flashes. Simmons appeared in 43 games, battling knee trouble and persistent back pain. His body never allowed him to find rhythm. Those same back problems bled into 2023-24. He managed just 15 games for Brooklyn before the pain forced him out again and ultimately required surgery.

The Nets moved on. Simmons played 33 games with Brooklyn before being waived during the 2024-25 season. The Los Angeles Clippers gave him another shot in February 2025. He appeared in only 18 games there, limited by his physical condition and a clear loss of the explosive mobility that once separated him.

By the end of that season, he was a free agent, his future uncertain.

Then he stepped away entirely.

Simmons missed the entire 2025-26 season, choosing rest and rehabilitation over another partial, stop-start campaign. No box scores. No late-night highlights. Just the long, lonely work of trying to put his body back together.

A fresh gamble in Sacramento

Now the Kings have decided that work is worth betting on.

Sacramento brings Simmons into a roster headlined by Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis and Darius Acuff Jr., the No. 7 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. For a team that wants to play fast, share the ball and punch back defensively, Simmons offers a very specific set of tools.

He’s expected to open the season as a backup point guard behind Acuff, with the possibility of shared minutes alongside the rookie, according to a person close to the team. That kind of dual-handler setup could ease the pressure on Acuff and let Simmons do what he has always done best: push the pace, find shooters, and turn defense into instant offense.

He won’t walk into a locker room of strangers, either. Simmons and LaVine have known each other since they were young. Sabonis and Simmons entered the league together in the 2016 draft class. There is at least some shared history to lean on as he tries to restart his career.

For general manager Scott Perry and head coach Doug Christie, the move fits a stated identity. They’ve spoken publicly about wanting a rugged, defensive-minded group. Simmons, at 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, checks every box in that vision. A source close to the team said there is real belief he can still guard every position on the floor and give Sacramento a much bigger, more flexible look.

The risk is obvious. So is the upside.

The Kings are wagering that the surgeries, the year away and the grind of rehab have finally cleared the worst of his injuries. They’re wagering that the player who once anchored elite defenses and ran playoff offenses still lives somewhere inside that frame.

If they’re right, this is more than a feel-good comeback. It’s a reshaping of what Sacramento can be.

If they’re wrong, it’s one more stop in a career that has already seen too many detours.

For now, the only certainty is this: Ben Simmons has a jersey again, a role again, and a franchise willing to see what’s left.