Ben Simmons is suffering from an irritation of the L-4 disc in his lower spine, according to Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. It doesn’t appear he’ll be back any time soon, but Nets officials are hoping he can play a “couple” of games before the regular season ends.
Simmons received an epidural treatment for back pain while the team was in Orlando this week, according to Nick Friedell of ESPN (Twitter link). Doctors hope the injection will help ease the discomfort and speed up his return to the court.
Coach Steve Nash added that there’s still no timeline for Simmons to begin practicing, as the team has to see how he responds to the epidural. Nash said he remains hopeful that Simmons will be available before the playoffs start (Twitter link).
After acquiring him from the Sixers last month, the Nets originally set Friday’s game against the Trail Blazers as a target date for Simmons’ debut, sources tell Shelburne and Wojnarowski. However, that became unrealistic because he couldn’t get through more than a day or two of rehab without pain affecting his lower back.
Simmons continues to get treatment and is working to strengthen the affected area, the authors add. He has done some basketball activities in a 1-on-0 setting, but nothing more.
Nash admitted over the weekend that Simmons still isn’t ready for 1-on-1 games and has a long way to go before progressing to a 5-on-5 setting. The Nets have 13 games left in the season and at 36-33 are trying to climb into sixth place to avoid the play-in tournament.
Did they not give him a physical or since Harden wanted out that bad, they just took him?
Simmons was basically salary matching purposes. Drummond and Curry were the useful pieces they got for Harden.
@Irish
I simply can’t agree or begin to imagine that a team’s owner would greenlight taking on 3/$108 mil in future money to facilitate picking up two, albeit good, role players. You can say the trade was made with the idea that Simmon’s would benefit the Nets over the long haul because of his injury but being able to add Curry and Drummond immediately, for this years run, softened the blow of him not being available now.
I’ve wondered the same on other threads … I’m assuming it’s too late for any recourse (or maybe Philly was just that out of loop with Simmons that even *they* didn’t know he apparently had a somewhat serious back issue?)
I’m curious, what’s this fellow the one who said the world is flat or something? Either way, what kind of drama player or players some of these men are and a top of that they make toons of cashola! Joke!
Lmao what a train wreck. Sixers are simultaneously the smartest and dumbest team in the league for signing this guy and then somehow pulling off the trade to escape.
Nets are just dumb.
Well he wasn’t going to play for the sixers so it’s a very good trade for them
Must have been that heavy workload this year
God , I didn’t know he had a spine!!!
Ben Simmons Has An Irritated Disc In His Spine, Receives Epidural
Simmons is just Irritated!!!!
more like simmons is just an irritating player
Those TV blowhards like Stephen A Smith might want to eat their words. But I doubt it.
Durant & Kyrie (& Curry) might be better without Simmons, at least for the run at the title this season.
They get bounced first round
Karma is a biotch.
Simmons is taking this charade too far
Charade? Guess you never had a bulging disc! You’re very, very lucky. L4-L5, S1, lower disc problems are extremely common.
Is that the same as having mental problems? I’m assuming that’s the charade that is being referred to. What is Simmons next excuse going to be? Those are legitimate problems but they don’t apply to Simmons who seems to be just using them as excuses.
How does one have back problems when he hasn’t played all seasons
Sitting in your ass isn’t the best for your back.
Mrshy, Go to a pain clinic. Go to an ortho doctor. The world is filled with people with pain that do not play sports.
I don’t endorse simmons. But I do endorse pain as being legitimate.
It is possible to get hurt outside of playing in actual games.
What a joke.
My wife PASSED on one of those during childbirth. Oh the irony.
Yeah but I bet if her pain lasted days on end, she might have done differently.
Simmons sucks but this is not the same
I’m also “irritated” about Ben Simmons
Ben hasn’t play a minute this season so better play your actual roster with BB, JJ Edwards, Claxton, Dragic even Griffin … Nets are loaded and have a good chemistry so bringing Simmons PO choker #1 is not a priority … Kyrie is giving them an extra chance when on the court cause he’s healthy and have a lot of juice (good side effect of this shot mandate)
So if the Nets play the Raptors in the Play-In… as of right now Kyrie won’t be able to play in either city. And Ben Simmons isn’t going to play.
I swear that would be so crazy I was just talking about this the other day
Nets are 5 games below Raptors so if the mandate remains the only option to play KY is to be the 10th seed.
Get better man, hope to see you back on the court soon.