Brooklyn Nets point guard Ben Simmons has been diagnosed with a nerve impingement in his back and will be re-evaluated in one week, the team announced Tuesday.

Following a three-game absence with what the team had been calling a hip contusion, Simmons underwent an MRI, which revealed an impingement in the lower left side of his back. After undergoing surgery on the L-4 and L-5 discs during the 2022 offseason, Simmons was forced out at last season's All-Star break and later shut down due to a nerve impingement in the right side of his back.

While the diagnosis of a nerve issue two weeks into the season is concerning, Simmons' agent, Bernie Lee, said the current impingement “isn't anything similar” to what his client experienced last season:

“He’s experiencing some nerve irritation issues on the lower left side of his body, which is going to cause him to miss some time as he rehabs and builds himself back from that,” Lee told The New York Post's Brian Lewis. “He’s not experiencing anything similar to what he’s gone through in the past or what he went through last year, and this is something that the expectation is that with the proper kind of rehab, he’ll be able to resume his season in a short period of time without any issue.”

The Nets are all too familiar with Simmons' extensive history of back injuries. After acquiring him for James Harden at the 2022 deadline, Brooklyn watched its season go down in flames with the three-time All-Star on the bench due to a back injury and mental health issues. He then appeared in just 42 games last season while recovering from offseason surgery.

After an eight-month rehabilitation process, Simmons had a productive start to this season, ranking 11th in the NBA in rebounds (10.8 per game) and 14th in assists (6.7 per game) before being sidelined. His transition ball-handling and passing had been a focal point of a Nets offense that ranked second in the league in fastbreak points (20.6 per game) and seventh in offensive rating.

Following Tuesday's diagnosis, head coach Jacque Vaughn wouldn't say whether Simmons' current nerve impingement is related to the one that sidelined him last season. He again referenced a play against the Milwaukee Bucks in which Simmons landed awkwardly while attempting a floater as the origin of the back injury.

“Prior to this diagnosis, he had been showing signs of being positive and leaning in the right direction of feeling better,” Vaughn said. “This injury is a totally different side than last year. I’m not in any position to speculate if there was any correlation. We know that there was an acute play that happened in the game that got us in this position, but not in a position to speculate if there is a connection.”

“To my knowledge, he had not been experiencing any discomfort before that play.”

Without Simmons, the Nets' prolific fastbreak offense has ground to a halt. With him in the lineup, Brooklyn ranks second in the NBA in fastbreak points, averaging 20.6 per game. Without him, they rank 22nd, mustering 12.7 per night.

The former number-one pick is adding 4.5 points per 100 possessions in transition this season, ranking in the 94th percentile among NBA players, per Cleaning the Glass. With Cam Thomas, Brooklyn's leading scorer, also sidelined by an ankle sprain during a Nov. 8 win vs. the Clippers, the Nets have posted the NBA's worst offensive rating over their last three games.

There's no question that Simmons' elite fastbreak orchestration is a focal point of the team's vision in the first season of the post-Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving era. But with an extensive history of back issues, a nerve issue this early in the season will do little to inspire confidence in his ability to contribute long-term.

Although the diagnosis appears similar to the injury that sidelined Simmons last season, his agent dismissed the idea of another extended absence.

“No. No, it definitely should be on the shorter side of things. It’s really kind of like a day-to-day kind of evaluation situation,” Lee told The Post. “Really what has to happen is the area has to calm down. Once it calms down, then there’s a period of kind of reactivity that’s built into things. And then it’s how his body responds to that and getting him back into obviously game shape and all those kinds of things.

“Obviously, based on Ben’s history, there will be like a conservative kind of approach to this. And I think we all saw, the way he began the season, he started really, really well. He’s obviously a significant portion to the Brooklyn Nets, and he and the Nets remain on the same page to continue to work hand in hand to help him fulfill the requirements that the Nets have for him and help him to continue to be a really positive member of the team.”