To the surprise of almost no one, Ben Simmons will not play against the 76ers when the Brooklyn Nets visit Philadelphia on Thursday. He is, however, expected to make the trip to the City of Brotherly Love and be on the bench as the Nets take on his former team.
Simmons’ debut for Brooklyn has been pushed back even further than previously expected as the 25-year-old point guard deals with back stiffness ahead of playing his first game of the season. While the Australian has never had a definitive timetable for returning to the court, he did say after being traded to the Nets in February that he hoped to be ready to face the Sixers on March 10.
Simmons has not played since June 20, 2021, in Game 7 of the second-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks.
“Unfortunately his back stiffness has delayed his ability to get on the court with his teammates. so he’s been rehabbing this last sort of week to 10 days,” Nets GM Sean Marks said in an interview with YES Network last week. “And then now he’ll progress throughout this week with some individual [work]. Hopefully, by the end of next week he’s getting more into the team environment, and then we can really ramp up and start him getting into sort of game shape and so forth.”
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