Ben Simmons delays NBA return: he wants to be sure his body can hold up, while building a new sports story with a fishing club
Ben Simmons has once again opened the question of a possible return to the NBA, but the message he is sending is significantly different from the usual language of free agents looking for a new opportunity. According to the interview he gave to Andscape, the former first overall NBA draft pick does not want to sign a contract merely to return to the league or take a place on a roster. His condition, as he described it himself, is to bring his body to a level at which he can play without the constant fear of another setback. For a player whose career over the last several seasons has been marked by back injuries, knee problems and a sharp decline in role, this is an attempt to present the comeback as a sporting decision, not simply as a search for yet another contract.
According to NBA.com data, Simmons left the Brooklyn Nets in February 2025 after a contract buyout, and then signed with the Los Angeles Clippers after clearing waivers. NBA.com stated at the time that in the 2024/25 season he played 33 games for the Nets and averaged 6.2 points and 6.9 assists, before receiving limited minutes with the Clippers. Andscape reports that he appeared in 18 games for the Clippers and averaged 2.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists, which best shows how much his role had changed compared with the period when he was one of the league’s most recognizable young players. Spotrac lists him for the period after that contract as an unrestricted free agent, and according to available information as of June 29, 2026, there had been no official confirmation of a new NBA contract.
A return Simmons does not want to rush
Simmons’s most important message is that he does not want to base his return on his name, past honors or reputation. In the interview with Andscape, he said that, in his own view, he could fit into the NBA because of the skills he still possesses, but that he sees no point in returning if he cannot give everything he expects from himself. He especially emphasized that he does not want to be a player who is formally on a roster but physically not ready enough to provide real value to a team. Such a position can be read as a response to the past few years, during which discussions around his name often focused on health, motivation, role and market value. In professional sports, especially in the NBA, free-agent status is rarely a calm space, but Simmons is trying to show that he is using his time outside the league for a longer-term rebuilding process.
Andscape reported that Simmons is training in the Los Angeles area, combining basketball work, strength exercises and rehabilitation six days a week. According to the same source, his program includes two workouts a day, with a constant focus on his back and mobility, which was the key problem in previous comeback attempts. Simmons said in the interview that the earlier approach to rehabilitation, in his opinion, had been wrong and that he had to seek a fresh perspective on the nerve problem that extended from his back toward his leg. Such details are important because they explain why he is not talking only about conditioning, but about the ability to jump again, change direction, absorb contact and withstand the rhythm of a professional season. That is a level of load that cannot be assessed solely on the basis of short training clips or earlier statistics.
His statements also point to a change in priorities. Simmons told Andscape that he is blessed not to have to fight for just any contract at any cost, but that he wants to reach his physical peak before deciding what comes next. In practice, that means a potential NBA return would have to make more sense than mere symbolism. A team considering him would not automatically get the old version of the player from Philadelphia, but rather a player who would have to prove that he can stay healthy, accept a more realistic role and at the same time offer defense, playmaking and transition play. That is why the question of his return is more complex than the question of whether there is a club that would invite him to training camp.
From first draft pick to uncertain NBA future
Simmons’s career still carries the weight of very high initial expectations. According to the Sport Fishing Championship announcement, he is a player born in Melbourne, selected as the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, a former Rookie of the Year award winner and a three-time All-Star. Andscape notes that in his NBA career so far, with the 76ers, Nets and Clippers, he has averaged 13.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.5 steals in 383 regular-season games. Those numbers show that this is not a marginal player, but a basketball player who in his best seasons combined the height of a forward-center, the court vision of a point guard and the defensive range of an elite stopper. That is precisely why his decline was not an ordinary story about a player who failed to fulfill his potential, but one of the most striking turns in the more recent NBA era.
The turning point began after the end of his period in Philadelphia and continued through major trades and health problems. NBA.com reported that the Nets and 76ers completed a major trade in February 2022 in which James Harden went to Philadelphia, while Simmons became part of Brooklyn’s project. However, NBA.com later stated that Simmons’s problems in Brooklyn were strongly marked by nerve damage in the lower back, because of which he played only part of the available games and appeared in just 15 contests in one season. The same source notes that when he arrived with the Clippers, he had behind him a long series of recovery attempts, surgeries and limited minutes. In that context, his current restraint is not only caution, but the result of years of experience with a body that did not meet the demands of the league.
For NBA clubs, Simmons’s potential value remains clear, but the risks are just as clear. If healthy, he can defend multiple positions, speed up transition, find teammates off the dribble and play without needing a large number of shots. If he is not healthy or does not have enough explosiveness, his well-known limitations in shooting and free throws become a bigger problem, especially in the playoffs. The market therefore evaluates not only his name and biography, but also the question of how much of his remaining elite skills can fit into a modern NBA rotation. Simmons’s public message, according to which he does not want to sign until he is sure of his body, is at the same time an attempt to control that assessment himself.
South Florida Sails as a new sports chapter
While the basketball comeback remains an open question, Simmons has entered professional sport fishing through South Florida Sails Angling Club. Sport Fishing Championship announced on December 23, 2025, that Simmons had purchased an ownership stake in that club, and Andscape describes him as the team’s new controlling operator. It is a club that competes in the SFC, a professional offshore saltwater fishing league founded in 2021. According to the SFC, the league brings together professional fishing clubs that compete in tournaments across North America, and its model increasingly relies on owners from the worlds of sports, entertainment and entrepreneurship. Simmons has thereby joined a group of well-known investors that, according to the league’s announcement, includes golfer Scottie Scheffler, musician Brian Kelley, NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss, NASCAR driver Austin Dillon and others.
In his interview with Andscape, Simmons compared the SFC to a new Formula 1 for fishing and to a competition model that can attract audiences beyond the narrow circle of sportfishing enthusiasts. According to him, he was drawn by the technique, endurance and complexity of a sport that is often viewed superficially. SFC tournaments are based on a points system in which catches and releases of species such as blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish and striped marlin are valued, and the competitions take place on large vessels and in conditions that require crew, logistics, tactics and experience. Simmons is not appearing only as a famous face, but as someone who wants to participate in building the club, expanding the community and commercially developing the sport. In a statement published by the SFC, he said that investing in what he loves carries a responsibility to move that field forward.
South Florida Sails also has a personal dimension for Simmons. According to the SFC, his love of fishing began in childhood after his family moved to Newcastle in New South Wales, a coastal city in Australia. Andscape reports that Simmons today lives between basketball training, rehabilitation and the fishing project, and he himself described how curiosity about the water, from boyhood outings with a small rod, led him to his own boat and eventually to ownership in a professional team. This part of the story is important because it shows that the fishing project is not just a random investment by an athlete looking for an activity away from the court. In his public appearance, it is presented as a serious second sporting environment, but not necessarily as the final replacement for basketball.
A big victory at Walker’s Cay gave the project momentum
A sporting result quickly gave additional weight to Simmons’s new project. According to the official Sport Fishing Championship report, South Florida Sails won the Walker’s Cay Open 2026 in the Bahamas, finishing the three-day competition with 2925 points. The SFC states that they achieved the victory thanks to six blue marlin releases recorded by Lee Albarty and Alex Stanley, under the leadership of Captain Mike King and with the presence of Brad Adam, Ben Simmons and the rest of the crew. New Jersey Sea Birds finished second with 1450 points, while East Coast Remix and Lights Out Boston each collected 900 points. For a team that had entered a new ownership phase, this was a result that surpassed the symbolic value of a media announcement and showed that the club can win in a competitive environment.
The Walker’s Cay Open was held from May 15 to 17, 2026, on Walker’s Cay, in the northern part of the Bahamian Abaco Islands, according to the SFC schedule. The official tournament review states that South Florida took the top of the standings on the very first day after Alex Stanley released the first blue marlin of the 2026 SFC season, worth 450 points. On the second day, the team built a large lead, and Lee Albarty, with multiple blue marlin releases, practically separated the Sails from the competition. On the final day, according to the SFC, Albarty added another blue marlin and brought the club to 2925 points, bringing South Florida close to the league record for the most blue marlin in a single event. The victory was formally confirmed when the competition ended at 4 p.m., and team members climbed onto Walker’s Cay’s recognizable structure to receive the winner’s flag.
That result is not insignificant for the perception of Simmons. In the NBA context, in recent years he has mostly been the subject of questions: when will he return, can he stay healthy, is he still worth a significant contract and how motivated is he for basketball? In the SFC context, at least for now, he is connected with a project that immediately achieved a tangible result. That does not solve his basketball future, but it changes the tone of the story around him. Instead of talking only about games not played, injuries and unfulfilled expectations, Simmons now has a publicly visible sports project in which the result depends on crew, strategy and organization, not only on his body.
The NBA decision remains open
The most important question for the basketball audience remains whether Simmons will play in the NBA again. According to Andscape, he himself mentioned the possibility of returning around the middle of the season or in the following season, depending on how far he can progress in his recovery. Since that timeframe is tied to his physical condition, not to a specific offer, every assessment remains uncertain until there is an official club announcement. Simmons’s situation differs from that of a standard free agent because a potential signing does not depend only on the market, but also on his readiness to accept the NBA rhythm again. That includes travel, practices, games every two or three days, the possibility of contact and the public pressure that has followed him since Philadelphia.
For clubs that might consider him, the most realistic scenario would be a low-risk contract with a clear role. Simmons no longer enters conversations as a player around whom a franchise is built, but as a possible defensive specialist, playmaker off the bench or piece for tactical lineups without a traditional shooter. But even such a role requires reliability. If he cannot move without limitations, his value falls; if he can regain part of his earlier speed and strength, he could again be interesting to teams looking for size, passing and defensive flexibility. That is why his decision not to rush is logical, even if it prolongs the uncertainty.
Simmons’s story on June 29, 2026, therefore stands between two sporting paths. One leads toward a possible NBA return that still has no official date, contract or team, but has a clearly stated condition: the body must be ready to provide real help. The other has already begun on the water, through South Florida Sails, a team that in its new ownership period won a major SFC competition. Whether the fishing project remains a parallel passion or becomes the main chapter of his professional future will depend on whether Simmons can do what he has not managed to do for long enough in recent years: stay healthy, trust his own body and once again offer a reason for NBA clubs to see him as a player who does not take up a spot, but makes a difference.
Sources:
- Andscape / Marc J. Spears – interview with Ben Simmons about his NBA return, rehabilitation and role in South Florida Sails (link)
- Sport Fishing Championship – official announcement about Simmons joining the ownership group of South Florida Sails Angling Club (link)
- Sport Fishing Championship – official recap of South Florida Sails’ victory at the Walker’s Cay Open 2026 (link)
- Sport Fishing Championship – schedule and basic information about the Walker’s Cay Open 2026 (link)
- NBA.com – report on the contract buyout with the Brooklyn Nets and signing with the Los Angeles Clippers (link)
- NBA.com – report on the James Harden and Ben Simmons trade between the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers (link)
- Spotrac – contract status, basic career information and free-agent designation after the 2024/25 season (link)