Ben Simmons is a champion — of a professional sport fishing tournament in the Bahamas

Next time you say Ben Simmons’ name, you can put champion before it. Sport fishing champion, that is.

On Sunday, the South Florida Sails — a professional fishing team owned by the former 76ers point guard — dominated the Sports Fishing Championship league’s 2026 Walker’s Cay Open in the Bahamas.

The Sails caught six blue marlin and three sailfish, good for 2,925 points. The second-place New Jersey Sea Birds mustered just 1,450 points.

Although he was included in the SFC’s championship graphic posted to social media, Simmons does not compete. Though he has boasted a love for fishing, he previously told CBS Sports that he was “not the best angler” — enough of a reason to not join the team of professionals.

For Simmons, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2016, who did not play in the NBA this season and retains his status as a free agent, Sunday’s win marks his first since becoming the controlling owner of the Sails in December.

The 6-foot-10 guard is far from the first sports celebrity to own one of the 13 SFC teams. Most notably, professional golfer Scottie Scheffler and Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss have joined ownership groups. The SFC operates 16 tournaments a year, the next being the Carrier Cup in Charleston, S.C., from May 29 to 31.

“It’s a very niche sport. And if you don’t know, you don’t know,” Simmons, 29, told CBS Sports in December. “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.”

Growing up in New South Wales, Australia, Simmons found himself fishing at a young age. His love for the sport only grew after moving to the United States for basketball — where the hobby became an escape from basketball. On his YouTube channel, he has released a number of videos of himself fishing with friends.

After missing his first year in the NBA with a broken right foot, Simmons played four seasons with the Sixers, was named the Rookie of the Year for the 2017-18 season, and earned three All-Star selections.

After the Sixers lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 NBA Eastern Conference semifinals, his relationship with the Sixers publicly deteriorated. Simmons, citing struggles with his mental health, held out to start the next season until he was dealt to the Brooklyn Nets as a part of a trade for James Harden.

Since then, nagging back injuries have severely limited his ability to compete on an NBA court. Simmons has played in just 159 games after the start of the 2022-23 season, including just 18 appearances for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2024-25, averaging 2.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists. He was reportedly offered a veteran’s minimum contract with the New York Knicks last offseason but turned it down.

“There’s a lot of things happening. I think for myself, I got to the point where I just wasn’t in a place physically yet to get back on the court and play to what I want to be able to give to the game,” Simmons told Andscape in December. “And obviously, you want to go back and get on the team, and that’s the focus.”