Simmons led the Kings with seven assists in their finale after a year away he called his best move.<\/p>\n
Simmons had 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in 26 minutes at San AntonioHe told NBC Sports California taking 2025-26 off was the best thing he had doneSacramento finished the preseason 0-5 after a 126-97 loss to the Spurs<\/p>\n
Ben Simmons<\/a>‘ back is back \u2013 and so is the three-time NBA<\/a> All-Star and 2018 Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n The 30-year-old Melbourne-born point-forward scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and added a team-high seven assists in 26 minutes in his final preseason game<\/a>, a 126-97 loss to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> in San Antonio on Saturday, October 17 (AEDT).<\/p>\n For the first time since leaving the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> less than acrimoniously, he looked physically unrestricted.<\/p>\n “People can say what they want about, you know, not wanting to play, this and that and the third, but I needed to get away from the game,” Simmons said in an interview with NBC Sports California<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I needed to get my back right to be able to play this game at a high level.<\/p>\n “And I think the one thing people kept saying to me was, ‘It’s going to be hard to get back.’<\/p>\n “And I was fine with that, but I also know what I’m able to give the game.<\/p>\n “And so taking that year off was the best thing I’ve done in my career.”<\/p>\n His return drew breathless hyperbole from ESPN “commentator” Stephen A. Smith<\/a> back in early September.<\/p>\n “I seen one of the great, great talents at, at, at \u2013 I’m talking about a dude at 6’10”, y’all,” Smith said.<\/p>\n “He should be paying them to let him play. He should be paying them to let him play. It should be in reverse.<\/p>\n “He should be the first player in the NBA that actually pays the team to let him play in an NBA uniform, considering the thievery he engaged in for a few years, disguised as an NBA player, where he was scared of his own damn shadow but never scared to pick up the check to get the money.<\/p>\n “He should be paying them.”<\/p>\n Simmons sat out the entire 2025-26 season<\/a>, bought into a professional fishing team<\/a>, and then started his comeback, including flying himself to a players-only Boomers minicamp<\/a> mid-year.<\/p>\n Potential Boomers<\/a> teammates Josh Giddey<\/a> and Dyson Daniels<\/a> both praised Simmons<\/a>, and he knew he was ready to work out for NBA general managers.<\/p>\n “Yeah, for me, I said it, it’s not in a cocky way or anything,” Simmons said.<\/p>\n “For me, I knew the first team, whoever came to see me and to see where I was at physically and on the court, they were going to sign me.<\/p>\n “And that’s how I felt from the moment Scott came down and saw me.<\/p>\n “That was the main thing. I had a bunch of teams that wanted me to come to camps and play for a spot and things like that, which is, you know, that’s fine.<\/p>\n “I think they would have had different decisions if they would have seen me.<\/p>\n “But I think, you know, I’m right where I need to be at the right time.”<\/p>\n The Kings<\/a> open the 2026-27 season, and word is Simmons will keep his starting spot for the season opener against his former club<\/a>, the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>, on Thursday, October 22, 2026 1.30 pm (AEDT).<\/p>\n “I’m just excited,” Simmons added.<\/p>\n “I’m excited to get going and to be able to do it healthy, like with nothing in the back of my mind where I can \u2013 am I hesitant with certain things or anything like that?<\/p>\n “I’m just ready to go. I’ve taken a few hits already in practice, and it felt great.<\/p>\n “I feel great. I’m ready to go.”<\/p>\n The twelve Australians on NBA rosters at 8 October 2026, during the pre-season. Rosters can change before opening night on 21 October.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Simmons led the Kings with seven assists in their finale after a year away he called his best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-931235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}