The Warriors were reportedly one of the teams that wanted him before he picked the Kings.
Three and a half million dollars is all it took to bring Ben Simmons back to the NBA, and the team that paid it was not the Golden State Warriors.
Simmons agreed to a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Sacramento Kings on Friday, as ESPN's Shams Charania and Marc J. Spears reported, and the deal ends a full year away from the league for him.
Golden State was involved too, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who reported that the Knicks and Warriors were also in the mix before Simmons chose Sacramento.
What Simmons Still Brings
The version of Simmons that made three straight All-Star teams from 2019 through 2021 is long gone.
He last played in April 2025 with the Los Angeles Clippers, and his final stretch there was rough, with 2.9 points and 3.1 assists across 18 games off the bench.
He then turned down an offer from the Knicks and did not sign anywhere, per Yahoo Sports, so the Kings are betting on a 30-year-old who has not played a real game in well over a year.
Still, the skill set on paper is exactly what the Warriors lack, because a big guard who can rebound, defend several spots and push the ball would let Stephen Curry spend more time off the ball.
Where the Warriors Are Thin
The Warriors finished 37-45 and 10th in the West last season, and the roster heading into camp looks a lot like that one.
The front office re-signed Draymond Green, Al Horford, De'Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II, then added Brandon Williams and Georges Niang on one-year contracts in late August to fill the 15-man roster.
The bigger problem is health, because Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody will miss at least the opening months of the season while they recover from knee injuries, and there is already talk that Butler may not finish the year in Golden State at all.
That leaves the wing rotation leaning on Gui Santos and rookie Yaxel Lendeborg until the veterans get back.
General manager Mike Dunleavy admitted in August that the team chose talent over availability.
"We are taking on some risk there, but I think we value the talent over maybe finding guys that were perfectly healthy," Dunleavy told ESPN's Anthony Slater.
If that is the philosophy, a healthy Simmons fits it better than almost anyone the Warriors actually signed, and he came at a price the Kings found easy to pay.
Why the Regret Could Be Real
The pushback is that Golden State had no open roster spot once Williams and Niang signed, so adding Simmons meant passing on one of those two.
Curry is 38, he is managing a knee issue of his own, and he is now eligible for an extension that will be judged on whether this front office can still win around him.
A defender and passer with Simmons' size was worth a one-year gamble for a team in that spot, and watching him do it in Sacramento would sting.
If Simmons looks anything like the player the Kings believe they signed, Golden State will hear about this miss all season.
