When the 2019-20 NBA campaign was suspended last month, the status of Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons was up in the air. The Sixers star was dealing with a back injury that was expected to keep him out until the playoffs, which, if play had not been paused, would have been right now.

According to Jackie MacMullan of ESPN, if the NBA season does return, Simmons will be good to go. MacMullan notes that Simmons' lower back impingement has “all but dissipated.”

Of course, “good to go” can mean a lot of things. Does it mean he will immediately be healthy enough to get back on the floor after having not played since February? Or does it mean he will be back in practice and that once he plays in some scrimmages and shows he's okay, then he will be able to get back on the court for meaningful action?

While Simmons is hardly the exception in having to get back into game shape, he is coming off a rather tricky injury, so it remains to be seen if the Sixers throw him to the wolves if the season resumes (which is a rather big if).

Multiple team sources told MacMullan that the original plan was to bring Simmons back for the playoffs with the possibility of trying to work him back in a “handful” of regular-season games:

“He's feeling strong,” a member of Simmons' camp said. “The original restrictions were very limiting, but all of them have been removed. He would probably need another scan, so the doctors could officially clear him, but there's been no setbacks. He's dying to get out there.”

In 54 games this year, Simmons was averaging 16.7 points, 8.2 assists, 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals over 35.7 minutes per game while shooting 58.5 percent from the floor and 62.7 percent from the free-throw line.