With no NBA opportunities in sight, Ben Simmons is going fishing — by choice

That was the last game Simmons ever played for the Sixers. He refused to play for Philadelphia during the next season, then needed surgery on his back. He played only 90 games for the Brooklyn Nets after they traded for him, then finished last season with the Los Angeles Clippers. While Simmons told Marc J. Spears of Andscape that he could "probably do really well and do important things for a team," he stressed that his focus was on rehabilitating his body this year.

Is Ben Simmons' NBA career over?

Simmons insists that he misses the competition of playing pro basketball, and that despite his conflicts with his teams, his various injuries were the reason he was reluctant to take the floor. He changed agents, returning to Rich Paul and Klutch Sports, with an eye on being ready to sign with a team for the 2026-27 season.

NBA players have switched sports before, like when Michael Jordan went to play basketball or when Wilt Chamberlain had a pro volleyball career after leaving the NBA. But while plenty of NBA players have taken up fishing after retirement, Simmons appears to be the first one to ever do it on a professional, competitive level.

It probably is wise for Simmons to take time off the court after having recurring injuries the last few years, including a back problem that made it so Simmons could "barely get out of bed," much less play basketball. Still, an injury-prone 29-year-old who never shot the ball well even when he was healthy is a tough sell in the modern NBA. For a player who projects as a reserve in his best-case scenario, Simmons' fame and history of clashing with his teams work against him.

Perhaps the Sport Fishing Championship will scratch his competitive itch, even if it doesn't become, as Simmons puts it, "the LIV Golf of fishing," whatever that would look like. After all, while competitors work to catch the largest possible fish of different varieties, the SFC does not have three-pointers.