CHICAGO — The Nets have put Ben Simmons’ sore left knee on a strengthening program, and have ruled him out through their game Sunday at Atlanta. But the 26-year-old said he’s liable to miss several more games.
“We’re going to reevaluate it in about a week and see where I’m at. There’s some targets I need to hit and get to. From there on,” said Simmons, who missed his 17th game of the season on Friday.
The Nets, who faced the Bulls on Friday, have games Sunday at Atlanta, Tuesday against the Bucks, and Wednesday at the rival Knicks.
Simmons had fluid in his left knee drained and a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection before the All-Star break. The hope was that it would ease the discomfort in his knee, but after a couple of practices, the pain flared up again.
“I had it drained right before All-Star. I also had a PRP,” Simmons said. “It’s frustrating, but it’s something that’s an injury I’ve never dealt with before. So it’s something I’m learning about, that we’re learning about.
“I didn’t have a normal All-Star [break]. I was rehabbing the whole time still, after the PRP. So my break was just rehabbing and it was trying to get back out there. And then obviously, we played five-on-5-five three days ago, four days ago, which was good. But [I] wasn’t moving, I didn’t move and didn’t have that strength.”
Simmons missed all of last season with a herniated L-4 disk in his back and eventually required a microdiscectomy procedure in May.
The three-time All-Star, who has been robbed of his explosion, is averaging 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 43.9 shooting from the charity stripe this season, all career-lows.
“I’ve been battling it all year. I haven’t been 100 percent all year. I just want to be on the court, regardless of what it is and whatever position I have. I’m just trying to give the team what I can,” Simmons said. “So, it’s frustrating. But it’s the league we’re in also. I’m trying to give myself to my teammates as much as possible.
“Structurally, it’s good. It’s just a strength thing and getting it under control. It’s a frustrating process with the back and dealing with it all. It’s just something I have to deal with and it’s taking time. I just have to stay on top of it. We’re trying to work towards me coming back to being in a place where I can play at a level I can contribute and move.”
When Simmons was asked on Feb. 13 whether he had fluid on his knee or would need it drained, he said draining would not be necessary. But things apparently worsened.
Because he is on the Nets’ books for $37.9 million next season and $40.3 the following season, getting Simmons right is paramount.
“He did practice the last two days with us, which was great, then reported some soreness after those practices,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “At the end of the day, we collectively as an organization, as a group, with Ben, with the performance team, said it was an opportunity to kind of put him in a strengthening phase so that going forward once he gets the knee strengthened this isn’t a reoccurrence for us.
“He will not play these two games: That is a certainty. … Then we’ll just kind of see how the knee responds. When you’re strengthening things — just like the offseason, where you can do some loading, you can do some lifting — but it’s probably not ideal for you to play also while you’re doing heavy loading, heavy lifting. So that’s the space we’re in right now is he’s in this strengthening phase. Then, hopefully, the knee responds the way we want it to and he jumps right back on the train with us.”
Vaughn insisted there have been no discussions of shutting Simmons down.
“Zero,” Vaughn said. “We’re 24 games from making it into the playoffs and so the thought was we could use the time coming out All-Star break where we didn’t play games. Then it’s a great time to reassess. Can we take advantage of no games? And then where does that lead us down the road a little bit?”