Ben Simmons won’t be a factor in the Nets’ opening series against his former 76ers, or in any future series should Brooklyn somehow come back and advance.
But the team is encouraged by the former All-Star’s recovery, and according to the New York Post, a second back surgery is now seen as “unlikely” to be necessary in Simmons’ long, winding journey back to the court.
Simmons had back surgery for a herniated disk in May of 2022, which many believed could take as long as 18 months to fully recover. But Simmons tried to play through it after the offseason, and looked like a shell of his old self before being shut down for good on Feb. 15, with knee soreness and eventually a nerve impingement in his back being the culprit.
Now, as the Nets likely head towards the end of their season, they are at least taking consolation in the belief that Simmons is rejuvenated amid the news that he likely won’t have another back surgery, and the team has “a lot of belief in him being able to return to All-Star form,” according to The Post's Brian Lewis.
Simmons hasn’t looked anywhere near that level since the end of the 2020-21 season, but according to Lewis, those around Simmons have “noticed a complete change” in Simmons’ “focus and mentality” as he goes through his current rehab, and have high hopes for his 2023-24 campaign.
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