Ben Simmons Halts NBA Comeback To Buy a Pro Fishing Team

New Orleans Pelicans v Los Angeles Clippers — Source: Michael Owens / Getty

Ben Simmons has gone fishing.

The former 2018 draft pick has had a rough breakup with the Philadelphia 76ers, who drafted him, as well as the Brooklyn Nets, so he’s putting his NBA career on hold.

He’s now focusing his efforts on fishing as the new owner and new controlling operator of the South Florida Sails of the Sport Fishing Championship.

In a conversation with Andscape, he discusses his momentary pivot.

“It’s a very niche sport. And if you don’t know, you don’t know. But once you experience it and get out there and see what it’s about, you’re kind of in awe of what the sport is,” he says of discovering the new competition.

But basketball fans are wondering why he’s vanished, and he says it’s to rehab properly before returning. That amounts to “two-a-day basketball, strength and rehabilitation workouts six days a week.”

Simmons says he could compete right now, “But I want to give everything I can to the game. I don’t think there’s any point in just wasting a spot just to be out there. I think that’s a little selfish. And there are guys that do it now. But that’s what it is, the business.” So he’s angling for a return later this season or the beginning of next because right now he’s “not 100%.”

But don’t worry, he sees all the hate he’s getting on social media and tries to overlook it.

“Some things are just so in your face that you see it, but what does it really mean? My mind looks at it differently,” he says. “I just see it differently. Just seeing so much. I think just being through the fire and being through the [expletive] and seeing what’s real, what’s not, and who you are. For me, I was figuring out who I was. I was like, ‘I love this fishing stuff. I love I’m Australian. I didn’t even grow up from the States and people don’t know that.’ So, just that and being comfortable with being like, ‘Yeah, this is what I love, this is what I do, this is what I am.’”

Simmons hasn’t even turned 30, and injuries have plagued his entire career, especially the back injury, which he calls his darkest time.

“But the back was something different because it’s not a bone,” he explains. “You can’t just get an X-ray and see if it’s swollen, it’s broken here. It’s a different beast, and people don’t really understand that. So just I think going through that whole process and people understanding and not always believing what they read or see or hear, because there’s a lot of people out there just talking nonsense.”

And here’s the hate he gets on his 3-point game and free throw, which he blames on the nagging back injury, but promises it’s “a lot better than the last time I actually stepped on the floor.”

Despite the injuries, much of his public perception could have been shaped better by him, which is especially evident in his icy exit from the 76ers.

“I think probably just the exit of how things went down [in Philadelphia],” he continues. “But at the same time, there were multiple people involved that played a role in that. So, it wasn’t just one side. It was many things playing into that, which people do not know. So, it’s a part of it.”

Read more about Simmons’ fishing venture, dropping his agent for Rich Paul, and more here.

But see how social media is reacting to him swapping a basketball for a fishing rod below.