Nets rule Ben Simmons out for remainder of season
Matt Slocum/Associated Press
The Brooklyn Nets are shutting down Ben Simmons for the rest of the season.
Head coach Jaque Vaughn made the announcement saying, “Ben will not be joining us the rest of the year and through the playoffs. Vaughn continued, “After consulting with our doctors and multiple specialists, he’s just going to begin a rehab program. Our doctors and the specialists feel and think that he’ll have a full recovery, so that starts now.”
Simmons averaged 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists for the 2022-23 NBA season. He missed 33 games this season with knee and back injuries.
Simmons noticeably regressed after getting traded to the Nets at the trade deadline last season from the 76ers. After injuring his back last year during the ramping-up process, he had surgery on it during the offseason.
When Vaughn was asked about Ben returning to an All-Star level player, he commented, “That’s our goal,” Vaughn said. “And overall, you just think about, he’s 6-10, athletic, what he can do and bring to our team, how he can help our group on both ends of the floor. We want to be involved in that. We want to see that. I want to coach Ben, and I want to be able to push Ben to get back to the All-Defensive team and impact our team on both ends of the floor. So that’s definitely the goal going forward.”
Nets general manager Sean Marks spoke to ESPN and reiterated his support for Simmons.
“Same thing we’ve done in the past, is support him,” Marks told ESPN. “This is a young man that has been through a very traumatic and pretty arduous last couple of years here. And this is not news that he wants to hear. He didn’t want specialists telling him, ‘Hey look, here’s the best thing for you.’ The good news, they were in unison in their plan for a full recovery. I worked hard with these doctors, all the different specialists, as well as Bernie Lee, his new agent, to come up with a plan that’s hopefully going to get him back and back to being the Ben we’ve all seen.”
Simmons Nets' tenure has been a rollercoaster, but the Brooklyn Nets aren’t giving up on the former All-Star just yet.