Ben Simmons has found a new team — but it’s on a boat, not the basketball court.
Simmons, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, has purchased an ownership stake in the South Florida Sails Angling Club, a team in the Sports Fishing Championship, the league announced Tuesday. Simmons now serves as the team’s controlling operator.
Born in Melbourne, Australia, Simmons later moved to Newcastle, New South Wales, where he developed a love for fishing as a child, according to the Sports Fishing Championship. He posted fishing videos on his YouTube channel in 2020 and 2024, during which he caught several large fish during deep-sea fishing expeditions with his friends. Simmons also owns an apparel company called Reel One Fishing Club.
“I have always believed that investing in what you love means you have a responsibility to help move it forward,” Simmons said in the Sports Fishing Championship news release. “Sportfishing has given me incredible experiences, and SFC is creating a platform that treats offshore fishing like the elite sport it is.”
The Sports Fishing Championship, which was founded in 2021, is a professional offshore saltwater fishing league with tournaments featuring pro anglers. There are 16 pro angling clubs in the league, located in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts, competing in 16 tournaments for the title.
Simmons joins other professional athletes and entertainers such as golfer Scottie Scheffler, NASCAR driver Austin Dillon, NFL running back Raheem Mostert, golfer Talor Gooch and singer Brian Kelley to invest in the league.
The South Florida Sails were previously operated by the league. In May, SFC commissioner Mark Neifeld announced that the club was open for competitive bidding as part of the league’s expansion. Simmons and four other businessmen will be part of the club’s ownership.
“Ben Simmons is a wonderful addition to SFC’s club ownership group, which includes premier athletes and entrepreneurs who are leaders in their respective fields,” Neifeld said in the release. “What unites all of our owners is a genuine love for fishing; they are all members of this same diverse community of watermen and women who want to share this sport with the world.”
Simmons said he grew up fishing in the waters surrounding his Australian home. The sport became an outlet for the basketball star.
“Fishing is my happiness; it’s my peace. That’s my little thing to do when I’m away from the court,” Simmons said in a February 2025 Haute Living article. “I used to go down to the rocks and cast out my lines (as a kid). I loved it, even though I never caught anything but small fish.
“There was just something about the patience, the technique, knowing how to rig a reel or line, knowing the different hooks and what they’re used for, that was just interesting to me. And from there on out, every summer, I would get a house in Miami, on the water. Eventually, I got a boat.”
Simmons, a three-time All-Star, has had a roller-coaster NBA career.
The point guard won the 2018 Rookie of the Year award and earned NBA All-Defensive First Team and All-NBA Third Team honors in 2020, but Simmons has struggled with injuries and moved between teams since leaving the Philadelphia 76ers. Simmons was waived by the Brooklyn Nets in February and then averaged 2.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists with the Los Angeles Clippers in 18 games last season.
Simmons, 29, has not signed with an NBA team this season.
Simmons told Andscape that he hopes to return to the NBA either midway through this season or next season. He said he’s growing more comfortable with his identity, which is now largely shaped by his love for fishing and the water.
“When I get on the boat,” Simmons told Haute Living, “I feel like a whole different person comes out.”