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76ers Rival Report: Nets’ Ben Simmons Battles Familiar Injury

The Brooklyn Nets offered an update on Ben Simmons.
Justin Grasso|
76ers Rival Report: Nets’ Ben Simmons Battles Familiar Injury
76ers Rival Report: Nets’ Ben Simmons Battles Familiar Injury

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The Ben Simmons era with the Brooklyn Nets hasn’t gone as planned for the Philadelphia 76ers’ division rivals. After the former All-Star made his debut with the team back in October, Simmons has missed chunks of games on multiple occasions throughout the year.

Simmons’ latest setback has been his most significant. The last time Simmons appeared on the court was Brooklyn’s February 15 matchup against the Miami Heat. Simmons came off the bench for 20 minutes in the Nets’ 11-point win.

Since then, Simmons has been battling back and knee-related setbacks, which caused him to miss 15 straight games. During that stretch, the Nets haven’t had any detailed updates regarding Simmons, outside of refusing to shut him down for the remainder of the regular season.

On Friday night, Brooklyn finally offered a new update.

“Ben Simmons has been diagnosed with a nerve impingement in his back after a reevaluation earlier today,” the Nets said in a statement on Friday. “He will remain out of action while we determine the best long-term course of treatment.”

According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn recently mentioned that the team is operating under the belief that Simmons will be back this season. With fewer than ten games left to go for the Nets, Simmons is cutting it close.

While the Nets won’t rule Simmons out for the year officially, Simmons’ past battle with an impingement could be an indicator it might take a while before he’s cleared for action. 

During Simmons’ 2019-2020 run with the Sixers, the standout guard suffered a similar back injury on March 22, 2020. He missed the eight games leading up to the league’s suspension due to COVID-19 and was slated to several more weeks before the league was shut down.

With each Simmons-related update from Brooklyn, it seems the Nets won’t have the former Sixers standout on board for their potential playoff run this year. However, the Nets aren’t ready to pull the plug on Simmons’ season just yet. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.

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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Justin Grasso was a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s Philadelphia 76ers On SI Network. Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoMedia Threads: @JGrassoMedia

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