James Harden made his debut with the Philadelphia 76ers with a monstrous stat line of 27 points, 12 assists, and 8 rebounds. When he was traded from Brooklyn he had missed a couple of games due to hamstring soreness. However, his bounce back in the first game seemed like the injury never existed. The same can’t be said for Ben Simmons.
Simmons was the key part in the trade to Brooklyn. Since the trade, he has still not made his Nets debut. And based on recent reports it seems like that will not happen for a while.
Ben Simmons remains without a return schedule
Ben Simmons has not played a game since his awful outing in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. He was not injured or out of the rotation. Ben Simmons sat out to force a trade out of the Philadelphia 76ers.
He had cut all contacts and made a trade request. Philadelphia wanted the most they could get so they held out till the trade deadline. It worked as they managed to essentially upgrade Seth Curry to James Harden.
Now that Ben Simmons was out, he started conditioning to get back on the floor. But being inactive for that long did have effects on his body. According to Shams, Ben Simmons’ debut for Brooklyn will be further postponed as Simmons has back soreness.
Sources: Nets star Ben Simmons is dealing with back soreness in reconditioning process that requires further strengthening of the area over some time before return to action.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 26, 2022
However. head coach Steve Nash said this,
“It’s not like an injury, it’s just kind of like as he’s returning to play, his back’s flared up a little. It’s not like a long-term thing.”
That is a great thing to hear for Brooklyn who is barely hanging on to a playoff spot without KD and half of Kyrie. The timeline for his potential return could line up with KD’s return, and the law being passed allowing Kyrie to play home games again.
Will it be too late by then and could Brooklyn miss the playoffs entirely? Or will KD, Kyrie, and Simmons pull the team out of the trenches to contend for the NBA title? We’re just a couple of weeks away from finding out.