Ben Simmons has not stepped foot on NBA hardwood since the 2024-25 season, when he played 18 games for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Now, he’s looking to make a comeback to the league. A team that he’s been linked to is the Los Angeles Lakers. However, it seems the official source of this rumor is up in the air, as Marc Stein, the original reporter, never covered it.
Marc Stein Denies Ever Linking Ben Simmons To The Lakers
Jonathan Kuminga signed a two-year, $12.4 million deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves. This comes as a shock to the NBA world and the Lakers, as Rob Pelinka and company had reportedly offered Kuminga a two-year/$20 million deal at the start of free agency.
Self-proclaimed NBA insider Marc Jacobs reported that the Kuminga signing triggered the Lakers’ pursuit of Simmons and credited the rumor to Stein. He wrote, “The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly pivoting toward Ben Simmons after deciding not to commit to signing Jonathan Kuminga. The Lakers and Simmons have mutual interest in a potential deal as he looks to make his return to the NBA.”
Stein responded bluntly and refused any association with this report. “Nope. Never reported any of this anywhere,” he wrote on X.
Nope. Never reported any of this anywhere.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 27, 2026
Simmons has also not stated that he wants to play for the Lakers. In fact, he recently mentioned the Miami Heat and the Philadelphia 76ers as potential landing spots that seemed favorable.
This isn’t the first time the ‘Marc Jacobs’ account has been called out by an official insider/reporter. The account put out a fake quote from Luka Doncic earlier this month that claimed, “Obviously, LeBron did a lot for this team and made us better. We have a lot of respect for everything he brought to Los Angeles, but I think the team we have now fits us really well.”
The account credited this quote to The Athletic. Dan Woike immediately responded to this and said, “This is 10000 percent false and not something that Luka said or something that appeared in The Athletic – where is the ‘parody’ in just being a liar.”
Given that this has now happened twice with this account in the past two weeks, it’s quite likely this is a fake account parodying real NBA news à la ‘NBACentel.’
