76ers' Brett Brown Won't Close Door on Ben Simmons' Return

The Philadelphia 76ers cannot catch a break this year when it comes to injuries. Sixers All-Star Ben Simmons is proof of that. Before the league went on a hiatus in March, Simmons was already out with a lower-back impingement.

While the NBA's suspension was highly unfortunate for everybody, Simmons and the Sixers benefitted since it bought the injured forward some time to get healthy and become ready to play again. Leading up to Wednesday's seeding game against the Washington Wizards, a healthy Simmons appeared in three scrimmages, and two games.

But during the third quarter of the third seeding game on Wednesday, Simmons left the arena early with a suspected knee injury. While the third-year forward had a slightly noticeable limp as he walked, Simmons wasn't dealing with much pain and didn't really have any swelling in his knee.

After getting an MRI on Wednesday night, Simmons and the Sixers received some promising news as the tests didn't reveal any structural damage. Unfortunately, that didn't clear Simmons to come back and play. The third-year All-Star was still diagnosed with a subluxation of his left patella. In simpler terms, Simmons dislocated his kneecap. 

While it doesn't sound like surgery will be required, it seems Simmons will ultimately miss time moving forward. But Sixers head coach Brett Brown is far from closing the door on a Simmons return this season at the moment.

"I'm not [operating under the belief he won't be back soon]," Brown said on Thursday before Sixers practice. "Some of the information is fluid and still moving. In relation to saying any type of deadline or timeline, I'm not in a position to offer anything."

"Not because we don't want to," Brown continued. "It's just stuff is still being evaluated. What I do know is that we play Orlando tomorrow, and we don't have him, and that's kind of all I know at the moment." 

Right now, Simmons and the Sixers are deciding on treatment options. The Sixers' head coach is under the belief that Simmons and the team's medical staff will determine how they want to move forward within the next 24 hours. After a treatment option is chosen, that should help create a timeline for return for Simmons moving forward. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_