Speaking on Monday to local reporters at the Kings’ media day, Ben Simmons said the decision to sit out last season and let his surgically repaired back fully heal was the best one he could’ve made for his career, adding that there’s a “night and day” difference in his mental health since the last time he was on an NBA roster, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.

“I didn’t touch a ball for the whole year,” Simmons said. “I didn’t watch basketball. I just focused on getting my body right and my mind right. I knew at the time when I was ready to go, it would click, and that’s what happened. I missed playing the game a lot, but it’s hard to do when you’re not physically right.”

Simmons, who also missed his rookie season in 2016/17 due to a foot injury and the entire 2021/22 campaign due to a holdout and back problems, made it clear that his most recent hiatus from basketball was about getting his body right. He aggressively pushed back against the perception that he isn’t passionate about the game.

“It wasn’t about if I wanted to play,” he said. “All these people talk about I don’t love the game. That’s bulls–t. I love this game. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have taken that year to focus on myself and get back to where I’m at.”

Simmons’ minimum-salary deal with the Kings is non-guaranteed, but the three-time All-Star has high expectations for himself this season, telling reporters that he feels like his old self and that his goal is to “dominate” whenever he’s on the floor (Twitter video link via James Ham of The Kings Beat).

Here are a few more items of interest from around the Western Conference:

Former No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson has made a pair of All-Star teams since entering the NBA in 2019, but the Pelicans haven’t won a playoff series during that time and have finished below .500 in five of his seven years in the league. The forward admitted at media day on Monday that his career hasn’t played out like he hoped so far. “I’m not where I want to be,” Williamson said, per Brett Martel of The Associated Press. “I’m not where I need to be.” He’s hoping to begin to change that in 2026/27. Head of basketball operations Joe Dumars said Williamson is in “impeccable” condition, while new head coach Jamahl Mosley said the 26-year-old has been receptive to ideas about how to expand his game, according to Martel. “The challenge for him that we want to put on his plate is, how do you make your teammates better?” Mosley said. “Can you continue to expand your game more to where it’s not just being predictable to what you’re going to do night in and night out?”
Ja Morant’s fit in Portland is one of the biggest questions that will determine how the Trail Blazers’ season plays out, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian (subscription required) writes in his recap of Monday’s media day. For what it’s worth, Morant indicated he’d be open to a reserve role if that’s what head coach Micah Nori decides (Twitter video link via SportsCenter). “I think winning is the most important thing for me, so whatever role I have to play to get that done,” Morant said on Monday. “… If I’m starting, if I’m not, it’s the same thing. … I have no problem with either.”
The Grizzlies have hired Julius Thomas as an assistant coach, writes Jonah Dylan of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Thomas, 29, previously worked under Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo overseas with Telekom Baskets Bonn in Germany and Paris Basketball in France and finished last season as Paris Basketball’s interim head coach. “He will work mostly on the offensive side as kind of my right-hand man,” Iisalo said. “He has extensive knowledge of that system.”