Brooklyn Nets point guard Ben Simmons will remain sidelined indefinitely due to a nerve impingement in his back, the team announced Wednesday.
“Simmons has displayed consistent strength improvement in the affected area over the past two weeks and has further increased individual court work. His status will be updated again in approximately two weeks,” Brooklyn said in a medical update.
Simmons has been sidelined for six weeks after injuring himself during a November 6 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Jacque Vaughn clarifies Ben Simmons' progress
The team initially called the injury hip soreness before updating it to a hip contusion. Simmons' agent, Bernie Lee, then announced the three-time All-Star had suffered a nerve impingement in his back, the same injury that shut him down for the second half of last season, although in a different area and supposedly less severe.
The latest update comes after Brooklyn announced on December 2 that Simmons had received an epidural injection and was continuing to improve. At that time, head coach Jacque Vaughn said that the Aussie had not yet progressed to running or jumping. Vaughn was asked Wednesday if Simmons has taken those steps in the last two weeks.
“The big part of it is the strength part of it,” he replied. “As he continues to gain strength that will allow additional bodies to be around him. And so no, he’s not playing 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 right now. Hopefully that’s in the future going ahead. But I think overall you’re just adding different stimuli in order to get to a point where you can put bodies around him.”
After undergoing surgery on his L-4 and L-5 discs during the 2022 offseason, Simmons played 42 games last season while battling knee, calf and back ailments. He was sidelined at the All-Star break and later shut down due to a nerve impingement in the right side of his back. The current impingement is in the lower left side of his back.
Before his injury, the 27-year-old averaged 6.5 points, 10.8 rebounds and 6.7 assists over six appearances this season.
Nets injury updates
Brooklyn also provided status updates on Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV.
Smith, who has missed the team's last six games due to an upper back sprain, has been cleared for full basketball activities. The 25-year-old is questionable for Friday's matchup with the Denver Nuggets. Walker, who has missed the last eight games due to a left hamstring strain, is expected to progress to playing 5-on-5 over the next several days, with the goal of returning to the lineup next week.
After returning from a six-game absence due to a lower back sprain, Smith averaged 11.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.0 steals on 53 percent shooting during wins over the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks on December 2 and 6. The 25-year-old's elite point-of-attack defense would provide a much-needed boost for a Nets team that ranked 26th in defensive rating during a 1-4 West Coast trip.
Walker emerged as one of the NBA's top bench scorers before his injury, averaging a career-high 14.6 points per game on 48.9 percent shooting from the field and 43.3 percent from three. The 24-year-old leads the league in scoring among players averaging fewer than 24 minutes per night.