Is Ben Simmons' NBA career over?
It's a legitimate question to ask after the Brooklyn Nets shut him down for the second straight season due to a back injury. Following the 2023-24 campaign, the former No. 1 pick will have appeared in 57 of 254 possible games over the last three seasons. When on the floor, he has failed to resemble anything near his All-Star form, averaging 6.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.
Simmons underwent surgery Thursday to address a nerve impingement in his back for the second time in two years. In a video breaking down the Aussie's injury, Dr. Brian Sutterer — a sports medicine professional — analyzed whether it will mark the end of his career.
“With Simmons, I think you have to look more at the history. You have to look more at the progression of how things have been going to get a sense of what might be ahead,” Sutterer said. “It doesn’t mean that this is like a death blow to this career, but we’ve seen this pattern happen a couple of years now in just a three-year or two-year span, which makes you more concerned about whether it is going to continue to happen.
“Eventually, you have to kind of read the writing on the wall, so to speak, of what's happened before… You have to have a different perspective and a different expectation. It’s not fair to expect somebody who has undergone two back surgeries and had these very real, very painful, challenging injuries to get back to the level that they were. I think you have to set a different expectation and different standard.
“By no means does this mean that Ben Simmons is finished, but it might mean that Ben Simmons is going to be different in terms of ever getting back to the Ben Simmons that we thought we all knew and saw when he first joined the NBA.”
What is wrong with Ben Simmons' back?
After sitting out the entire 2021-22 season while forcing his way out of Philadelphia, Ben Simmons has battled a rash of injuries in Brooklyn. He underwent his first back surgery, a microdiscectomy, during the 2022 offseason. The procedure aims to alleviate pain from a bulging disc by removing the part of the disc pressing on the spinal nerve (hence the term “nerve impingement”).
Simmons appeared in 42 games in 2022-23 before the Nets shut him down due to a nerve impingement in the right side of his back. Despite a seven-month rehab process, he appeared in six games to start 2023-24 before an impingement in the lower left side of his back forced him out. He missed three months before returning briefly and then being shut down.
While a microdiscectomy is a minimally invasive procedure, it does not always solve the problem and can lead to functional issues long-term.
“Yes, this is a back surgery, but it's not as aggressive, as invasive as you might think when you just hear the term back surgery,” Sutterer said. “But that still means that this is gonna be really difficult to come back from. The more of that disc you have to take, the more you lose that disc's ability to do its job in the spine. That disc is designed in a way to help load the pressure through the back. It has a purpose.
“And when you cut some of that disc out, you make it harder for that disc to do its job. The more of these surgeries you have to do, the more you take from that disc, the more you can cause that snowball effect down the road with other issues in his spine.”
Sutterer also said the presence of bulging discs in two separate areas of Simmons' back indicates foundational issues.
“That tells you there’s some biomechanic pattern, some issue, more at a foundational level in his back, that’s causing these issues to occur at multiple levels, which is concerning long-term,” he said.
Can Simmons salvage his career in a new role?
The Nets had high hopes for Ben Simmons entering the season, with head coach Jacque Vaughn naming him the team's starting point guard. Brooklyn has performed well under expectations amid his injury-riddled campaign, posting the NBA's eighth-worst record (26-42).
After Simmons' third straight season of unavailability, the days of the Nets factoring him into their on-court plans should be over. The 27-year-old will enter the final year of his contract in 2024-25 at $40.3 million. Beyond that, will he be willing to take a massive discount in 2025-26, possibly a veteran's minimum contract, if his injury struggles continue next season? Or will he ride off into the sunset with the $203 million he has made over his career?
Any hope of Simmons regaining the dominant form of his 76ers days seems to be gone. Whether or not he can stomach that and salvage his NBA career in a different role remains to be seen.
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