Henry Roldán
The Ben Simmons-injury soap opera is still in full swing as the Brooklyn Nets player had to undergo surgery again on Thursday.
As revealed by the Brooklyn organization itself, the 25-year-old point guard underwent a microdiscectomy to alleviate pain in his back due to a herniated disc that has plagued him for some time and prevented him from playing this season with the Nets.
In the statement, the team revealed that within three weeks Ben Simmons will be able to begin his rehabilitation process, while he is expected to be fully recovered for the Nets’ training camp for the upcoming season.
Adrian Wojnarowski, a reporter for ESPN.com, added that the full recovery time would be three to four months, so as the team statement notes Simmons should be ready to debut on Oct. 18, the start of the 2022-2023 campaign.
Ben Simmons missed the entire second half of the season with the Nets after being traded from the Philadelphia 76ers, where he had not played since being cut in June 2021 with mental health issues and then undergoing initial back surgery.
However, it was hoped that Simmons, who is theoretically over his mental health issues, could recover to see action with the Nets. Something that did not happen and ended with controversy after everything pointed to him seeing action in Game 4 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Boston Celtics. But that day he woke up again with back pain and was taken out of the players available list.
What Is Expected from the Nets Regarding Ben Simmons?
With this operation in Brooklyn, it is hoped that they will be able to start enjoying the bet made in the middle of this season and that both coaching staff and teammates can forget the strange episode of Game 4, since many within the organization expected an extra effort from Ben Simmons in a game of utmost importance for the team.
In four seasons in the NBA Simmons has lived a very successful career but at the same time with many turbulences due to his physical, personal and offensive problems. The Australian was the Rookie of the Year for the 2017-2018 campaign, has been selected to the All-Defensive team twice, to the All-NBA once, and has participated in the All-Star Game three times.
