One game didn't play, Simmons went to surgery again, do you still believe he can return to the Nets with blood?

Ben Simmons' Back Surgery Adds More Uncertainty to the Nets' Offseason

Published: May 5, 2022 US time

Publisher: the Athletic

Article author: Alex Schevol

Article translated by de Gaulle

When the team trailed the Celtics 0-3 in the first round of the playoffs, Ben Simmons was still planning to make his debut with the Nets as soon as possible. Now that the Nets have been swept out by the Celtics, Simmons has decided to undergo surgery.

On May 5, local time, the Nets officially announced that Ben Simmons would undergo surgery to treat his symptoms of herniated discs to alleviate the low back injuries that had plagued him for a long time. Simmons has been affected by the injury since he traded from the 76ers to the Nets in February, causing him to play a game for the team until the Nets were eliminated. So now that the Nets are out, Simmons has also chosen to completely contact this physical "hidden danger" through surgery.

Originally, when Simmons joined the Nets through a trade, he had a sore back in training. At the time, many people thought it was a normal reaction of Simmons who had not played for the first half of the season and suddenly returned to high-intensity training. However, after mrivision, Simmons was diagnosed with symptoms of herniated discs. Although Through a series of treatments, Simmons can also return to the training ground for confrontational training, but his body has never been able to return to the state of the game, which also leaves a great regret for him and the Nets.

Today, Simmons has successfully completed the operation. It is reported that through this minimally invasive operation, a part of Simmons's protruding disc was removed, and it was this part of the protruding disc that pressed his nerves, causing his pain. Originally, on April 22, local time, before the third match of the Celtics series began, Simmons was optimistic that he could avoid surgery. "I think I'm doing pretty well at the moment, so we didn't think about it [for surgery]," Simmons said at the time. But apparently in the last dozen days, Simmons has changed his mind again. After the operation, he also "reported safety" to the outside world through social media (below).

The injury to his lower back can be regarded as Simmons's "nemesis". In the 2019-20 season, Simmons, who was still playing for the 76ers, missed eight consecutive games due to nerve problems in the lower back. The following 2020-21 season, he experienced more severe symptoms of nerve compression in his lower back. According to then-76ers head coach Brett Brown, Simmons' injury at the time not only made him feel pain, but also made him vomit.

Today, the team to worry about Simmons' injury has gone from the 76ers to the Nets. Coupled with the fact that his contract is still several years away, Nets coach Nash has also said after the playoff journey that helping Simmons and Joe Harris recover from the injuries that plagued them will be the Nets' main task and job in the next offseason.

"We're going to get two of the four strongest players on the team back to a healthy state," Nash said, "and one of those two players is an All-Star in the NBA and one is one of the best shooters in the league." When they come back, I think we're going to get a big boost. Other players can return to their most comfortable positions, without having to stare at players who are far taller than them every game, without having to play that long every night, and without having to face tall defenders to find offensive opportunities. So, I really think it would be a great help to the two of them if they could come back. ”

But now, Nash and the Nets have to wait more patiently, because Harris and Simmons have both undergone surgery and face a short recovery time. Harris suffered a severe ankle sprain in November and eventually underwent surgery to say goodbye to the season early, but he was able to return before the start of training camp as originally planned. Although Simmons underwent surgery later than Harris, judging by the photos released after his surgery and the expected recovery time of 3-4 months, he can also return to the team before the start of training camp next season.

However, these are predicted according to the ideal state, and no one knows whether Simmons, who has been plagued by low back injuries for many years, will be able to recover according to the established time. On this issue, you can refer to the Nuggets Michael Porter Jr., a talented player who has been plagued by intervertebral disc injuries. During college, he had a sharp decline in his position because of this injury. After entering the NBA, he also missed his entire rookie season. Just past the regular season, Porter Jr.'s old injury recurred, and he played only 9 games in the entire season. In him, you can observe how "stubborn" the disc injury really is, and how great the impact on a player is.

Next season, Simmons will be on $35.4 million a year, which is just the first year of his five-year, $177 million contract. So for the Nets, whether from an economic point of view or from the perspective of on-court collocation, Simmons is a very important part of the team's future. On the day of the fourth game of the Celtics series, not only did Simmons continue to watch at the Barclays Center, but his agent Rich Paul also arrived at the stadium, and the two held a meeting with the Management of the Nets to help Simmons recover to health, setting a common goal for both sides.

But even if Simmons is fully healthy, what kind of state he can show will be marked with a question mark. After all, since June 2021, after simmons played a very bad game after the 76ers lost the 7th game in the series with the Hawks, he has not played a single official game in the nearly a year since. And with the Nets swept out by the Celtics, does their current focus on Simmons' physical health highlight the imbalance in the team's lineup and salary structure?

If you're looking for a word to sum up the Nets' past season, "uncertain" might be the right word. Now, with Simmons' surgery, more uncertainty has come to the team.