2 min read • May 12, 2022
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Nets’ versatile star Ben Simmons is about a week removed from undergoing back surgery to repair a herniated disc that kept him off of the court for the final two months of the season.
The Pro Basketball Docs anticipated that Simmons would potentially need surgery when he initially received his epidural on March 16, but the path to him going under the knife was winding and full of drama.
General manager Sean Marks shed some light on Simmons’ status and the steps that led up to the surprising surgery, revealing that an MRI before Game 4 showed an increase in the herniation.
Even with Marks’ comments, there are still questions abound about the nature of Simmons’ seemingly whack-a-mole back injury, and the ProBasketballDocs have answers.
Did The Nets Know About This Injury When They Traded For Simmons?
Simmons back issues go back to 2018. Before this season, they crescendoed in 2020, when he suffered a nerve impingement that kept him out of the final run of games before the league shutdown in March.
The Nets would have known that he had this issue in the past, but medicals are never black and white. After suffering the 2020 injury, for instance, he played the entire 2020-21 season and had his best year to date.
His back issue appears to have worsened after the trade, but Brooklyn had to examine and give him the green light before the trade as completed.
How could he get hurt while sitting out? When did he suffer the injury?
Players can suffer injuries – and significant ones – during practice, in private workouts, or at home.
Draymond Green discussed how his herniated disc emerged one Saturday morning when he began feeling soreness and weakness in his calf three days after his most recent game.
Klay Thompson suffered his ruptured Achilles tendon in a private workout before the 2020-21 season began. Greg Oden famously needed microfracture surgery on his right knee due to an injury he suffered getting up off of his couch.
The 25-year-old’s pre-existing back issues meant that, until drastic measures were taken such as his surgery, there was always the potential for the herniated disc to re-emerge. Once a disc herniates, it doesn’t go back without surgery.
Why was there optimism of him being able to play this season if he needed surgery on back? Why was he cleared for Game 4?
Players have played – and often successfully – with herniated discs. Grizzlies’ guard Desmond Bane is doing so right now, and has yet to miss a game as he works through the pain that he says is improving every game.
Marks’ revelation of the MRI results before Game 4 speaks to how confusing and challenging back injuries can be.
Someone, whether in his own camp or on the Nets, leaked to the media that he was healthy and cleared to play, despite the fact that the Pro Basketball Docs never fully bought into that idea.
There was always a path for him to return to the Nets this season, just as well as there was a path leading to the surgical table, depending on if the epidural worked as expected and if Simmons showed sufficient improvement.
He is also a player known primarily for his playmaking ability. His lack of time with his new teammates would have made that tough to pull off in a one game performance.
Shams Charania reported that anxiety was acting as a stressor and causing back pain to flare up; How could it be “all mental" if he needed surgery?
There is no way of knowing the nature or depth of Simmons’ mental health issues, so all we can do is quote credible reporting. The mental and physical sometimes cross over, but whatever is going on with Simmons mentally, he clearly has a significant physical issue to resolve first.
Simmons received an epidural steroid injection in mid-March to help with the pain the herniated disc was causing, so whatever later alleged mental block he was suffering from, it was not the source of his back soreness.
No one gets an epidural or surgery if there is no pathology.
Will he recover and can he still be an impactful player for the Nets?
The Nets said recovery would be on a three-to-four month timetable, which is reasonable, but it may be six months till he is a full-go.
The Docs certainly hope for Simmons to make a full recovery ahead of the 2022-23 season and that this surgery will spell the end of his back issues.
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