It has not been easy for Brooklyn Nets fans to watch the lovefest James Harden is having in Philadelphia with Joel Embiid, while Ben Simmons still has no timetable for his return to play. When Simmons first came to Brooklyn a few weeks ago, fans initially wondered if his mental health would bar him from appearing in games from the jump. Many of us had our eye on that March 10 showdown vs. Simmons' former team.

But where do things stand right now for the All-Star from Australia?

Nets general manager Sean Marks gave an update on Simmons' situation Thursday, amid plenty of speculation about what's really going on:

“Unfortunately, his back stiffness has delayed his ability to get on the court with his teammates. He's been rehabbing this last week to 10 days. And then now he'll progress throughout this week with some individual workouts. Hopefully by the end of next week he's getting more into the team environment and then we can really ramp up and start him getting into game shape.”

Marks also notes there is “no real timetable” for Simmons' return to action.

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Before looking ahead and speculating even more, let's backtrack and look at what we learned over the last couple weeks:

Recently we heard from ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that Simmons was “weeks not months” away. But that was odd, because nobody had thought it could be months before he'd suit up for his new team.

Then Shams Charania went on The Pat McAfee Show and compared Simmons' flare-up to Draymond Green's back issue. Green has been out for a long time and is set to miss months, plural, when it's all said and done. That's not ideal.

Charania gave the dubious update that there was “optimism” Simmons could return before the playoffs, which only put in fans' minds the idea that there's suddenly the terrifying specter he might not be.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst said he spoke to Rich Paul, head of Klutch Sports and Simmons' agent, and Paul told him Simmons is week-to-week. Windy, who has had his finger on the pulse of all things Simmons lately, made clear we shouldn't expect to see him on March 10 in Philly.

But one confusing angle of it all has been that the Nets went out of their way to downplay the severity of this flare=up. On Feb. 26, even after reports said Simmons had a more serious issue, head coach Steve Nash made it sound like the setback was very minor.

“Yeah, I just saw the reports,” Nash said, prior to the 126-123 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, when Kyrie Irving exploded for 38 points. “Same process, it’s just like a little soreness in his back … it’s not like an injury. It’s just as he’s returning to play his back’s flared up a little bit. But it’s not a long-term thing.”

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“He hasn’t played a game since June,” continued Nash. “So that’s just part of his process of trying to play … as you ramp up you’re subject to certain things as you would be with muscle soreness or tightness, he’s having a little tightness with his back.”

But it turns out that Shams and Windhorst were right. There has been a setback that's clearly more serious than typical muscle soreness.

So, let's do a little math. Thursday is March 3, and Simmons will be doing individual work this week. He'll hopefully get back to the team environment by the end of next week, which is March 12, after that showdown in Philly. If he hits that mark and can “ramp up,” he would need to progress through three high-intensity workouts without setback. That's the Nets' return-to-play reconditioning protocol; their fancy way of saying to ‘stay healthy and also get back in shape.'

As for this series of high-intensity practices, Kevin Durant had one of those under his belt, back on Feb. 24. He got the other two in sometime over the last seven days and is set to make his return against the Miami Heat on Thursday night. So, if Simmons also needs a full week for that process like KD, we might optimistically ballpark Simmons for a return somewhere during the week of March 21.

Brooklyn plays the Utah Jazz that day. If Simmons were active at that (again, optimistic) return date, he would be eligible to appear in 11 remaining regular-season games before the play-in tournament. It's not ideal, but if that were the case, the Nets would happily take it.

Still, the clock is ticking.