Back injuries are very common in professional basketball, especially in the world's top leagues like the NBA, but being common doesn't mean the injury is easy to recover from, as Brooklyn basketball star Ben Simmons can attest. Simmons is a tall, athletic point guard whose defensive ability and speed are comparable to most of the league's smaller guards, so whether he's compatible with the team or not, the Nets expect Simmons to contribute in the first round of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics.
There have been some reports suggesting that Simmons may return to the savior in the playoffs, but in fact, the Nets have not given any definitive statements, and the media has speculated only because there are rumors that Simmons has no pain after training on a certain day, and may return to the game as early as the third game. In addition, Simmons himself once signaled to ESPN reporter Nick Friedell to film his own dunk in a recent practice, which is undoubtedly a signal to the outside world that his body has recovered.
But Simmons didn't end up playing in the Nets' first round, and we don't know why, maybe he suffered another setback in his recovery, maybe he wasn't as healthy as we thought, or as The Athletic's ace reporter, Sham Charania, said, mental health issues were the main factor in his delay in coming back.
But while reports of his possible comeback in the playoffs have misled many, Dr. Rahul Shah, a world-renowned orthopedic spine surgeon and doctor on the Orlando Magic team, warned against being overly optimistic. He said in an interview at the end of March: "Simmons received injections a few weeks ago and if you didn't see him practicing, didn't warm up with the team, didn't train 3-on-3, then you can be pretty sure his injury wasn't getting the relief he wanted." ”
The last time we saw Simmons on the court was in the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals, which was the last time he stayed healthy on the court, and he didn't attend training camp this season, forcing the Philadelphia 76ers to trade him, but the 76ers didn't compromise at the start. The two sides have since been in a tug-of-war, with Simmons missing 54 games and losing about $20 million to force the 76ers to comply, before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 11.
As mentioned earlier, Simmons has been dealing with his own mental health issues throughout the 2021-22 season and possibly longer. ESPN's correspondent Raymond Shelburn initially reported that Simmons would continue to work with his psychotherapist to prepare himself for playing in Brooklyn, and that there was no mention of back injuries in this report, at least in all respects initially with tacit avoidance.
The biggest difficulty in understanding Simmons' recovery about a week ago was that he hadn't voluntarily reported the injury to the team, so even Nets coach Steve Nash didn't seem to know the all-Star point guard's form for most of the post-trade period. Nash called Simmons' back injury "a bit sore" at the end of February, and in mid-March he changed his tune to say he had high hopes that Simmons would return in the regular season, but at the end of March Nash said he was being told that Simmons was dealing with an injury with a herniated disc.
What was Nash deliberately hiding? Or did he really not know how badly Simmons' back injury was? It is worth mentioning that Simmons' back has not had any serious injury history, and the last problem in Simmons' back was in February 2020, when he missed 9 games due to back nerve damage, but has not had complications since.
If Nash's final statement is correct, Simmons really suffered from a herniated disc, something must have happened between June 2021 and February 2022, as herniated disc injuries usually take 3 to 6 months to fully recover, and is Simmons aggravating his back injury after being traded? Or before that? Perhaps the Nets were also deceived by the 76ers management and Simmons himself.
But no matter when this happens, we can put most of the blame on Simmons' persistence, after all, training camp and preseason are important for a relatively long season, and after skipping these and regular seasons, it is almost impossible to get back in shape in a short period of time, even for players like Simmons.
What's worse, Simmons' injury could have a longer-term impact on the Nets. In an interview, Dr. Rahul-Shah explained the recovery process and time required for this injury: "The injection is a step before the operation, which is why Simmons is injecting, if this does not work, then it may be because the diagnosis is wrong, but it may also be that more work needs to be done." Usually, we need to surgically determine the position of the disc pressure on that nerve and then repair this area, usually we need to remove a small part. But if you apply torque in that area, there is a chance that more discs will be damaged. So we usually want to limit the risk as much as possible and minimize it, but sometimes it's not enough, and while this surgery looks very effective, there's a 5 to 15 percent chance that there will be more disc problems in the future. So while surgery is usually successful, the risks it poses lead many people to try conservative rehabilitation and injection therapy first. People who undergo surgery are twice as likely to return to the field as those who did not undergo surgery, and the time to play is twice as long as those who do not undergo surgery. But this is risky, which is why most people don't take surgery right away. So for Ben Simmons, there's probably a 60% or 70% chance he needs to undergo this surgery. And the real question is, can he get back to the game at his best? If he can't, then you should have your own answer. ”
While the Nets' journey this season is over, the decisions Simmons may make will have a direct impact on his ability to play next season, and while it's true that Simmons' mental health is at least as important as his physical health, especially for him, if Simmons is to return to All-Star level, then his back must be completely healthy.
Discectomy (a procedure to remove damaged discs from a herniated spine) takes at least 6 to 8 weeks to recover, and has been performed by multiple players in the NBA before, los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard underwent a microsection of the disc in late 2018 and was expected to be absent for 2 to 3 months, while outside scorer Mike Dunllivi performed the same surgery in 2015 and doctors expect him to be absent for 8 to 10 weeks. Simmons and the Nets still have about five months to start training camp, so while there is still a surplus of time, Simmons should also make a decision as early as possible.
The defensively weak Nets clearly need Simmons very much, and they need him to defend the best players on opposing teams, such as LeBron James, Ja Morant, Luka Doncic, Alphabet Brother and other players. And that's a very difficult task for any player, and if that player has persistent injuries, especially back injuries, then that's a task that simply can't be done. Given the assets the Nets gave up in order to get Simmons, and the reality that most teams in the league don't want Simmons to have anything to do with him at the moment, the Nets must count on him to get back to his former self.
Although from the current situation, this hope is not great, but fortunately Simmons is still only 25 years old, he is still likely to play in this league for another 10 years or even longer, hoping that he can overcome all the challenges, including physical and psychological, this Nets has lost a lot, the future is also hopeless, can only pray that a miracle can pull them out of the abyss.