Relatively new Brooklyn Nets acquisition Ben Simmons is close to making his season debut, as he was recently cleared for contact in practice and even participated in four-on-four drills Monday.
The guard was ruled out for Wednesday’s Game 2 against Boston, but Game 3 hasn’t been ixnayed. Rumor has it he’s aiming for a Game 4 return.
Simmons has been on the mend recently from his back injury—ramping up his workload over the past few weeks.
“It’s up to Ben’s back,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “It’s not up to me or any of us other than his back. And how we can help that resolve, great. But, you know, there’s a chance Ben comes back; there’s a chance he doesn’t come back. So I think for us, we gotta focus on the group, support Ben in his journey to get back on the floor but at the same time we don’t have time to lose focus on the group that’s playing.
“And Ben’s a franchise cornerstone, but right now it’s about supporting him physically and mentally to get back on the floor and coaching the group to put its best foot forward in the first few games of the series at least … Internally we’re not sitting here saying, ‘Ben’s returning in this series.’ We’ll see what happens.”
Simmons demanded a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers after last postseason’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks. A deadline blockbuster deal for James Harden ensued, but Simmons still hasn’t seen the floor.
“We all know what type of player Ben is,” the Nets’ Kevin Durant said. “You can put together scenarios in your mind on your own on what it would look like, but I’m not going to go there because we’re just taking it a game at a time.”
