Picture Credit: NBA
The Brooklyn Nets management have expressed their exasperation with the injury situation surrounding their guard Ben Simmons, who hasn’t played organised basketball since the 2021 playoffs. As reported by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, “People involved here are exasperated by this saga because that is what it is. I got the feeling yesterday that it was like waving a white flag,”
“I know that this might have the appearance of Ben Simmons saying, ‘I don’t want to play, we’re down 3–0,’ but he woke up yesterday with his back hurting. That is what I have been told, and it’s just as simple as that,” he continued.
Before the game, Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash had talked about how he wasn’t expecting Simmons to play and work with him to get him healthy. He said“I mean, I wasn’t really expecting him to play. Like we’ve said all along, he’s trying to improve, he’s working through it.”
“Reports that he was playing were from the outside, I don’t know where that came from. So we kind of stick to what we’ve always said; he’s still building himself up, still working through things, still trying to get strong enough and put himself in a position to play.”
“I guess. I don’t know. I mean, I’m not sure setback’s the right word; I don’t know what we’re calling it. He’s still trying to strengthen and put himself in a position to play,” Nash continued. “He could feel great today, he could feel poor tomorrow. I just think that’s the landscape we’re in with his back is that he’s made progress but day-to-day some days are better than others
The Nets went on to lose the game and were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. After the defeat, Nash was once again asked about Ben Simmons’ condition and he discussed about the mental health component in Simmons’ recovery process. ''I think Ben has addressed that there is a mental component with what he's going through, but how much and where he's at with that is not for me to speak about,'' Nash said.
''But as far as an organization, we're really pushing to support Ben in any way we can to help him improve physically and get back on the court, and then the mental side of that is part and parcel. They're not separate, they're not something that we don't want to deal with. We want to help if he needs help in any aspect of his life and his game.''