How Boomers mini-camp unlocked Simmons' NBA return

• Simmons has agreed a one-year, USD $3.5 million deal with Sacramento
• The Kings were the only NBA club to offer him a contract
• An August Boomers minicamp as a full participant rebuilt his stock

Australian point-forward Ben Simmons has agreed a one-year, USD $3.5 million deal with the Sacramento Kings, ending a season out of the NBA and completing a comeback rebuilt inside an Australian training camp.

Simmons, 30, sat out the whole of 2025-26 rehabilitating lingering back and leg injuries – and fishing.

What changed was a minicamp with the Australian men's national team in early August, where he trained as a full participant after flying himself back to Melbourne to compete against Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels and a raft of other Australian stars.

ESPN reported that his stock rose off the back of it.

The Boomers got a look at a player they may want in Los Angeles in 2028, and Simmons got the one thing no workout in Miami could give him, which is evidence in front of witnesses that he could do a full session and back it up the next day.

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors both showed interest afterwards, though, reportedly, neither went past the point of a possible training camp invitation. Sacramento were the only NBA club to offer him an actual contract.

Kings General manager Scott Perry watched him work out in Miami and sat with him for an hour in late August, and Simmons then flew to Sacramento on Monday for an in-depth medical examination and an on-court workout at the team's practice facility, where he impressed head coach Doug Christie and the rest of the basketball staff. The offer followed.

He arrives as a backup point guard behind rookie Darius Acuff Jr., with the Kings expecting him to cover positions one through five.

basketball.com.au's Jason Cadee said on Cut to the Jase: "I think first of all for him, the fact is he had to choose to fly out to Australia for this, this wasn't a 'oh you've been chosen we fly everyone from wherever they are in'.

"He had to actually physically say 'no I'm coming. So for him to do that I think shows (he wants to play).

"The part two with all this stuff is everyone will have their opinion but you don't know, unless you're Ben Simmons or those directly close to him and probably only him himself, how bad has his injuries really been.

"Like his back (injury), I've seen people with sore backs that can't walk and so if Ben's back and he's been dealing with all these things, yes I'm sure there's some mental things as a part of whatever he's been dealing with.

"If him having this time off has actually led to him saying 'I feel healthy enough that I'm going to fly to Australia, jump on the court with the guys and work out for three days', then go back and do whatever I want to do.

"I said it six months ago, or whenever I first said that, and I think now is more likely than ever that he'll play for the Boomers."

Sacramento finished 22-60, tied for the worst record in the Western Conference, waived DeMar DeRozan in July and did not bring back future Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook, which left a hole at guard that a healthy Simmons is unusually well shaped to fill.

Simmons was the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, taken by the Philadelphia 76ers out of LSU, and he won Rookie of the Year in 2018 after a foot injury had already cost him the whole of 2016-17. He was named to the All-Defensive first team in 2020 and has been an All-Star three times.

He missed the whole of 2021-22 amid a trade holdout, mental health concerns and a series of physical problems, and he has not played a full season since.

Across 383 regular-season games for the 76ers, the Brooklyn Nets and the LA Clippers he has averaged 13.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.5 steals. The Clippers spell was the thin one. After a buyout and a waiver from Brooklyn in February 2025 he managed 2.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists across 18 games on limited minutes while still fighting his back, and his last NBA appearance was Game 5 of the first round against the Denver Nuggets.

At 208cm and 109kg he remains the same problem for a defence he always was, and the Kings are not paying USD $3.5 million for what he averaged in 2016. They are paying it because a 30-year-old who can guard five positions and pass like a point guard is worth a season of anyone's time if the body holds.

Whether it does is the only question in this, and the first people who will find out are not in Sacramento. Australian Boomers head coach Adam Caporn will also be watching closely.