Ben Simmons Tears Right Achilles in Kings Practice, Three Days Before the Season Opener

Ben Simmons tore his right Achilles tendon during a live drill at Sacramento Kings practice on Sunday, the Kings announced, and an MRI confirmed the tear the same day. Simmons will undergo surgery, and ESPN reported the injury is expected to end his season, three days before Sacramento opens at the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. He had signed in September after a year out of the league.

How did Ben Simmons get injured?

In a live drill during Sunday’s practice, three days before the regular season opener. The team’s statement gives no detail about the play itself, and no video of the drill has been published by the club. The confirmed sequence is short: injury in the drill, MRI the same day, announcement on Sunday afternoon, with the Kings saying further updates will be provided as appropriate.

Simmons posted a statement on his Instagram story on Sunday evening. “This injury is another chapter in my journey, not the end of my story,” he wrote, in the statement USA TODAY carried. “I’ve been knocked down before, and I’ve always found a way to get back up. This time will be no different.” The timing had a second edge to it: ESPN’s E60 documentary about his comeback, “Being Ben”, premiered on Sunday afternoon, hours before the announcement, USA TODAY reports.

Why was this season meant to be his comeback?

Because he had spent a year rebuilding for it. Simmons sat out the entire 2025-26 season to rehabilitate the back and leg problems that had followed him for years, after ending 2024-25 in a reserve role with the Los Angeles Clippers, the Associated Press reports. Sacramento signed him to a one year, $3.5 million contract that filled the team’s final open roster spot, according to ESPN reporting carried by USA TODAY and TSN.

The signing came after Simmons worked out for general manager Scott Perry in Miami in late August and then went through a medical and an on court workout in Sacramento, TSN’s report said, and the Kings planned to use him from point guard through center in short stretches. The New York Post reported the deal was non-guaranteed, with $1 million due if he made the opening night roster. His preseason had gone well enough for the comeback talk to build: on Friday against San Antonio he played 25 minutes and finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, the Post reports. Sacramento’s preseason also brought a self alley oop from Victor Wembanyama in the Spurs game, the kind of night that had the building looking at the season ahead rather than at medical reports.

Was Simmons going to start for the Kings?

The reporting tells it in two stages, and the order matters. He was signed as cover at point guard behind rookie Darius Acuff Jr., with minutes across several positions, which is how TSN and the Post described the September plan. His camp form then moved him into the projected opening night starting five, alongside Acuff, Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray and Domantas Sabonis, according to USA TODAY. The Kings never published a starting five for Wednesday, so the starting version stays a projection. Either way he had a real role waiting, which is why Sunday’s drill changes Sacramento’s week.

The fit was the point of the signing. Luka Doncic crossed Domantas Sabonis out of his shoe in the Lakers’ preseason game last week, and Sabonis is the fixed point of Sacramento’s offense. Simmons was supposed to be the variable next to him, a 6 foot 10 defender and passer who could take the harder assignment and run the second unit. That plan lasted until Sunday.

What do the Kings do before Wednesday?

They open on Wednesday night at the Clippers with a hole they expected Simmons to fill, in a rebuild the AP describes as centred on Acuff, the seventh pick in the draft. USA TODAY’s projected starting five after the injury puts De’Andre Hunter at forward, and other coverage of the announcement pointed to more minutes for Precious Achiuwa. Both are reporters’ readings of the roster, not team announcements. Coach Doug Christie has not named a replacement, and the Kings have not said whether Simmons stays on the roster through his rehabilitation or whether the non-guaranteed contract leads to a change.

The roster question matters beyond one game. Sacramento used its final roster spot on him in September, and a torn Achilles is the injury ESPN already treats as season ending here. Whether that spot opens again depends on decisions the club has not announced.

How does this fit Simmons’ career?

The pattern is hard to separate from the player. Simmons was the first overall pick in 2016, taken by Philadelphia, missed his first season with a broken foot, then won Rookie of the Year in 2017-18 and made three All-Star teams, the AP reports. His career turned after 2021: a holdout and a trade to Brooklyn, back problems that limited him to stretches of games, a buyout, and the short Clippers stint. The site’s own coverage of the 76ers this month, an Embiid fall that gave Philadelphia a preseason scare, is a reminder of how often the plans built around that era’s core have changed at short notice.

He told USA TODAY during camp what he wanted this season to be. “Coming to work hard, play the game I know how to play,” he said, talking about leading in his own way. League business keeps moving around stories like this one: the NBA’s ban on under parlays and first basket bets was this week’s other league level decision, and the women’s Finals carried their own collision story in Gabby Williams taking a hit and closing Game 1.

What happens next?

The next facts arrive in a set order. A surgery date, a team decision on his roster status, and Christie’s first comments about the rotation should all land before or around Wednesday’s opener. The longer question, whether a 30 year old with his injury history can come back from an Achilles tear, has no answer in any current source, and this page will not guess at one. The Kings said further updates will follow as appropriate, and this article will be updated in place when they do.