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Ben Simmons Might Miss Entire Postseason For Nets

April 9th, 2022 at 9:00am CST by Rory Maher

After having been ruled out for the play-in tournament earlier this week, time is running out for Ben Simmons to return to action for the Nets, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Sports+ link).

Simmons is suffering from a herniated L-4 disc in his lower spine and received an epidural last month to treat the injury. He’s starting to feel better, and there’s hope he’ll avoid surgery, but it appears increasing unlikely he’ll be able to return for the playoffs.

“It looks like he’s doing a little bit better,” a league source told Lewis. “You know, it’s just a timing thing. The problem is the season is running out. But he’s doing [more]. He’s starting to do a little bit more movement, AlterG (an anti-gravity treadmill), stuff like that. So … we’ve got to be patient with it. I don’t think he’ll need a procedure, though. But you’ve just got to be patient with it.”

Lewis reports that this is the fourth back flare-up Simmons has dealt with over the past few seasons, including earlier this season with Philadelphia. Nets star Kevin Durant said the team isn’t going to pressure Simmons to return if he isn’t healthy.

“He’s doing good,” Durant said. “He looks good as far as just walking around and being around the team. Haven’t seen him do anything on the basketball court as much, but a couple walk-through things.

“But I think his spirits are in the right place and he’s excited to be a part of the group and [we’re] looking forward to having him out on the floor. I definitely don’t want him to rush back for us and his back is not right, so take all the time he needs to get his body right. And once he’s out there, we’re ready to rock and roll.”

Simmons has missed the entire season after his prolonged stalemate with the Sixers finally led to a trade to Brooklyn at the February deadline. The three-time All-Star has played in 275 career games, holding averages of 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.7 steals in 33.9 minutes per contest.

As Petter Botte of The New York Post relays, the Nets moved into seventh place after Friday’s 118-107 victory over Cleveland, led by 36 points from Durant. The Nets control their own fate for their final seeding in the play-in tournament — if they beat Indiana at home on Sunday, Brooklyn will finish as the No. 7 seed and get home-court advantage in the tournament.

Adam Silver Concerned About Star Players Missing Games

April 6th, 2022 at 8:56pm CST by Rory Maher

Commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the media on Wednesday following a two-day meeting of the NBA’s Board of Governors, and he said one of his primary concerns at the moment is “a trend of star players not participating in a full complement of games,” according ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.

“I’m not standing here saying I have a great solution,” Silver said. “Part of the issue is injuries. One of the things we have focused on at the league office and we’re spending — we had begun to spend a lot of time on pre-pandemic — are there things we can do in terms of sharing information, resources around the league to improve best practices, rehabilitation?

“The other way we can get at it, in terms of player participation, is creating other incentives. The play-in tournament, I thought, was a beginning of creating renewed incentives for teams to remain competitive and be fighting for playoff position. It may be through in-season tournaments and changes in format where we can get at it.”

Silver also said the league could look at shortening the 82-game regular season, if necessary.

“I also have said in the past, if we have too many games, that’s something we should look at as well,” Silver said. “It’s something, as we sit down and we’re looking at new media deals and looking at a new collective bargaining agreement, we will be studying. There wasn’t any banging of the table or anything like that.

“From my discussions with players, they recognize it’s an issue, too. The style of the game has changed in terms of the impact on their bodies. I think we’ve got to constantly assess and look at a marketplace going forward and say, what’s the best way to present our product and over how long a season?”

Here are some more highlights of Silver’s press conference, courtesy of Bontemps:

Silver said there was no concrete conversation regarding Ben Simmons‘ pending arbitration to recoup lost salary from the Sixers, and the league would not be involved in the litigation process.
The league has not discussed moving the All-Star game from Utah next season despite an anti-LGBTQ law recently passing. When asked the difference between this situation and Charlotte in 2017, Silver said, in part, “Every situation is unique…I would just say I have tremendous respect for (Jazz owner) Ryan Smith. I think he stood up against this bill. We’ve joined him in opposing this bill. But we also want to be realistic, too, in terms of the impact we can have. In the case of HB2 in North Carolina, I think it was our collective view, we working with the Hornets, that we could have an impact on that legislation. I think in the case of what’s happening in Utah right now, that bill is established.”
Silver said there was no update on the investigation into Suns owner Robert Sarver‘s alleged misconduct, other than to say it’s still ongoing and “closer to the end than the beginning, but it’s hard to put a precise timeline on it right now.” He also said the league was monitoring Donnie Nelson‘s lawsuit against the Mavericks.
The commissioner reiterated that he’s pleased with the play-in tournament and expects it to stay, but it could see a few tweaks moving forward.
The league is focused on trying to eliminate “take fouls” to prevent fast breaks, and changes could come as soon as next season, but there are obstacles to that happening. “That is something, as you know, we’re very focused on and considering making a change for next season,” Silver said. “We still have some work to do with our competition committee. We’ll be meeting with the board again in July, which would be a possible time to change that rule. But as we’re seeing sort of a pretty dramatic increase in take fouls, we don’t think it’s a great part of our game. International basketball has another way of getting at it, but that is something that potentially we’d like to tweak.”

Nets Notes: Simmons, Brown, Dragic, Curry, Edwards

April 4th, 2022 at 12:38pm CST by Luke Adams

After Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on SportsCenter on Sunday that it was “not realistic” to expect Ben Simmons to be ready for the Nets‘ first play-in game next week (hat tip to NetsDaily), head coach Steve Nash confirmed as much when he spoke to reporters on Monday.

The Nets are ruling out Simmons for the rest of the regular season and the play-in tournament, Nash told reporters, including Laura Albanese of Newsday and Alex Schiffer of The Athletic (Twitter links). If he’s going to make it back this season, Simmons’ return would have to come in the playoffs.

Although Simmons was able to do a little more at practice on Monday, Nash said the team doesn’t plan on scrapping its requirement that he must take part in at least three high-intensity workouts before being cleared. The three-time All-Star isn’t at that stage yet and has only been doing light shooting work.

Here’s more on the Nets:

After missing Saturday’s loss in Atlanta due to a non-COVID illness, Bruce Brown will be ready to play on Tuesday, tweets Schiffer.
Goran Dragic remains in Atlanta with COVID-19, tweets Schiffer. Nash is hopeful that the veteran guard will be back in time for one of the team’s final regular season games.
Seth Curry, who is battling ankle pain, didn’t do much at practice on Monday and Nash admitted that there has been some discussion about holding him out of the rest of the regular season to give him more time to rest the ankle (Twitter link via Nick Friedell of ESPN). The goal would be to make sure he’s as healthy as possible for the play-in tournament and playoffs.
Asked by Schiffer whether the Nets will give two-way player Kessler Edwards a standard contract this week in order to make him postseason-eligible, Nash didn’t rule out the possibility, but said he expects today’s roster to be the group he enters the play-in with (Twitter link).

Atlantic Notes: Harden, Simmons, Dragic, R. Williams

April 2nd, 2022 at 6:23pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Sixers scored 144 points in beating the Hornets this afternoon, easing concerns that the offense has stagnated since James Harden arrived. Philadelphia snapped a three-game losing streak as Harden reverted to the playmaker role he adopted after being acquired from the Nets in February, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He took just 10 shots from the field and handed out 13 assists while playing three quarters in the blowout.

“Like I said, it’s possession by possession, game by game,” Harden said. “Some games I need to be a little more aggressive. But with all that said, I think when all of us are playing well together and on the same page, we got a very, very good chance to win.”

Coach Doc Rivers compared Harden’s situation to what Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen experienced when they joined the Celtics. It’s harder to put up impressive stats on teams with multiple scoring options.

“His numbers are not going to be like his numbers in Houston, because he’s playing with a pretty good player [Joel Embiid],” Rivers said. “So those types of numbers I would never compare him to or anybody to.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Rivers was relieved the Sixers were able to work out a deal for Ben Simmons at the deadline, saying his standoff with the team was becoming too much of a distraction, per Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. “The guys were just over it,” Rivers said. “We were winning games, and, every town we went to, we were talking about Ben. I don’t know if we could have gotten through the second half of the season with that hanging over our heads. I was praying something happened.”
Simmons traveled with the Nets for tonight’s showdown in Atlanta, but he was limited to “light shooting” before the game and didn’t move around much, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Coach Steve Nash said nothing has changed with Simmons’ status, adds Nick Friedell of ESPN (Twitter link).
Nets guard Goran Dragic, who has entered health and safety protocols, is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, Nash said in a pregame meeting with reporters (Twitter link from Lewis). Nash added that Bruce Brown has the flu and hopefully will return soon. Seth Curry will miss tonight’s game because of soreness in his left ankle (Twitter link).
Celtics center Robert Williams was happy with the results of his meniscus surgery, tweets NBA writer A. Sherrod Blakely. “Everything went as well as we wanted to (with the surgery),” Williams said. “We have to take our time, make sure I’m healthy … everyone here cares about me long-term.”

Ben Simmons Files Grievance To Recoup Salary From Sixers

April 2nd, 2022 at 7:40am CST by Dana Gauruder

Nets guard Ben Simmons has filed a grievance to recoup nearly $20MM in salary withheld from him by the Sixers this season, the ESPN trio of Adrian Wojnarowski, Ramona Shelburne and Bobby Marks report.

The Players Association is backing Simmons in the grievance, which was shared with the Sixers, the league, and the NBPA late this week and will now be arbitrated, Wojnarowski adds in a separate tweet.

After reluctantly reporting to Philadelphia late in training camp, Simmons did not appear in any games, citing mental health issues. He hasn’t suited up for the Nets since he was traded, mainly due to a back injury.

The arbitration decision could set a precedent on how future matters regarding mental health and contracts might be handled.

Simmons has a cap hit of just over $33MM this season, part of the five-year, $177.24MM extension he signed with Philadelphia.

During the season, Sixers officials claimed that its doctors were given limited access to Simmons to diagnose and confirm those mental health issues.

After Simmons was traded, his representatives had several conversations with the Sixers in an effort to avoid arbitration but those talks ended without a resolution, according to ESPN’s sources.

Beginning on November 15, the Sixers withheld $360K for each game Simmons missed (1/91.6th of his overall salary). Simmons received a $16.5MM advance on his salary during the offseason, thus there wasn’t enough money in each paycheck to cover the per-game deductions.

Along with the amount for escrow that was withheld by the NBA, the Sixers deducted nearly $1.3MM of Simmons’ salary from each paycheck. That hasn’t changed since he was dealt. The Nets must deduct salary from Simmons’ pay and forward it to the Sixers, according to ESPN’s sources.

The CBA holds that a grievance must be initiated within 30 days from the date of the occurrence upon which the grievance is based. However, Simmons’ representatives believe the trade did not trigger that 30-day window because it’s been an ongoing issue.

Injury Notes: Randle, Bucks, Pistons, Jazz, Simmons

April 1st, 2022 at 3:36pm CST by Luke Adams

Knicks forward Julius Randle, still dealing with a quad injury, has been ruled out for Saturday’s game against Cleveland, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic, who tweets that the team is considering Randle day-to-day. For the time being, there are no plans to shut down Randle for the rest of the season, Katz adds. He missed three games with the same injury last week.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

The Bucks will be without several key players on Friday vs. the Clippers on the second night of a back-to-back set. According to the team (via Twitter), Giannis Antetokounmpo (right knee soreness), Jrue Holiday (left ankle sprain), Khris Middleton (left wrist soreness), and Brook Lopez (return to competition reconditioning) are among the players who will be inactive.
Cory Joseph (left lumbar spine strain), Marvin Bagley III (left hip strain), and Kelly Olynyk (rest) won’t play for the Pistons on Friday against Oklahoma City, tweets James Edwards III of The Athletic. The two teams are neck-and-neck in the lottery standings, so neither front office will be particularly motivated to win the game.
The Jazz got some reinforcements on Thursday when Bojan Bogdanovic returned from a nine-game absence and Danuel House played after missing eight consecutive games, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. Both forwards had positive plus-minus ratings in a win over the Lakers that snapped Utah’s five-game losing streak.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (video link) provided another minor update on Ben Simmons, reporting that the Nets guard has resumed “light” on-court workouts and still hopes to return in time for the playoffs. Charania’s colleague at The Athletic, Joe Vardon, reported earlier today that Simmons is unlikely to be ready for the start of the playoffs.

Atlantic Notes: Simmons, Embiid, A. Brooks, R. Williams

April 1st, 2022 at 9:20am CST by Luke Adams

Nets guard Ben Simmons is unlikely to be ready for the start of the playoffs, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Although Simmons has been at practice more since receiving an injection last month to address a recurring back issue, he’s still not close to being ready, Vardon adds.

Moke Hamilton of BasketballNews.com wonders if it’s just a matter of time before the Nets formally rule out Simmons for the season. The team continues to talk about the possibility of a return, but if Simmons can’t play during the regular season, throwing him out there to make his Nets debut during the postseason may not be a great idea — especially given the nature of his exit from Philadelphia and the playoff disappointment that led to it.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Speaking to Chris Mannix of SI.com, Sixers star Joel Embiid shared some insight into what he was thinking in the weeks and months leading up to February’s trade of Simmons. If Simmons was going to be dealt, Embiid wanted it to be for a win-now return. “If he comes back, we got to take him back and try to go win a championship. If he still wants to get traded, we got to do whatever is necessary to make sure that we don’t go and trade for, I don’t know, a first-round pick, or a second-round pick, or whatever, because what does that do for me?” Embiid said. “I’m not going to be able to work with a bunch of first-round picks or second-round picks. So, to me, I always looked at the bigger picture.”
When they signed him last weekend, the Raptors used a portion of their mid-level exception to give Armoni Brooks at $250K salary for the rest of 2021/22, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. A minimum-salary deal for Brooks only would’ve paid him about $137K for the remainder of this season. Brooks has a $50K partial guarantee on his minimum salary for next season — that guarantee would increase to $250K on August 1, and the deal would become fully guaranteed if he makes the opening-night roster.
After undergoing meniscus surgery on Wednesday, Celtics big man Robert Williams didn’t require much recovery time at home — he was back at the team’s facility on Thursday, tweets Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. “He’s in the meetings, in the gym, in good spirits,” head coach Ime Udoka said. “And so getting him around and just getting that flexibility back in, off top. And then we can kind of build up pretty quickly from there.”

Kyrie Irving Says He Plans To Re-Sign With Nets

March 26th, 2022 at 2:32pm CST by JD Shaw

Nets star Kyrie Irving holds a player option worth $36.5MM for next season, but the 30-year-old says he plans to re-sign with Brooklyn if he declines the option, as relayed by Andrew Lopez of ESPN.com. Turning down the option would allow Irving to become an unrestricted free agent.

“For me, it has always been about being comfortable and loving where I’m at. I love it here,” Irving said. “Once that summertime hits, I know we’ll have some conversations but there’s no way I could leave my man 7 [Kevin Durant] anywhere.”

Irving and Durant signed with the Nets in 2019, joining forces for the first time in their careers. Irving has only played in 20 games this season due to New York City’s vaccine mandates, but he’s averaged a career-high 28.5 points on 49% shooting from the floor.

The mandates have since been lifted, allowing Irving to play at home against Charlotte on Sunday. The seven-time All-Star will be seeking his second NBA championship this season. Should Irving return next season, Brooklyn will have most its core under contract, including Durant, Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Joe Harris.

Of course, Irving also publicly committed to re-signing with Boston back in 2018, then reversed course by the time he eventually reached free agency in 2019, opting instead to join Brooklyn. He seems focused on taking a long-term approach with the team though, which should be viewed as good news for Nets fans.

“To be honest, I signed up for this for the long run,” Irving explained. “I love this year. I’m grateful. It has not been the prototypical year. But when I look at my teammates and I look at what we have as an organization. I’m looking for the long run and what we can do, legacy talk.”

Nets Notes: Simmons, KD, Irving, Claxton, Aldridge

March 26th, 2022 at 10:55am CST by Rory Maher

Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show (Twitter link), Shams Charania of The Athletic said the Nets will be cautious with Ben Simmons, but there’s still an expectation that he’ll play this season.

Simmons received an epidural to treat the herniated disc in his back on March 15 and has been unable to do any basketball-related activities. However, he was able to travel with the team for the first time in a month during Brooklyn’s road trip this week and his back is starting to feel better, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

“Yeah he’s feeling a lot less pain,” coach Steve Nash said of Simmons, who still has to be cleared to practice 1-on-1, 3-on-3, and 5-on-5 before he can even be considered for playing. “I don’t have any major updates. His symptoms are improving and I think he’s progressing, but he’s not on the floor yet.”

Here’s more on the Nets:

Kevin Durant is relieved to have Kyrie Irving back for home games, ESPN’s Nick Friedell writes. Irving was recently exempted from New York City’s vaccine mandate. “It’s a long time coming,” Durant said. “It’s an exciting time for Brooklyn Nets fans and New York fans to see one of our own back on the floor at home. It means a lot to our team, happy to have him back, and look forward to finishing the season strong. I’m glad this is all behind us.”
Coach Steve Nash echoed a similar sentiment, Lewis writes in a separate article for The New York Post. “Yeah it’s great, we’re excited. Can’t wait to have him back for home games and for all our games,” Nash said. “We’ve missed him and it’s nice that we can not only have him back at home but also gain some reps and continuity together. We just are happy it’s over. We don’t have time to worry about anything other than we’ll have Kyrie at home now. … It’s positive in every sense of the word. We get to have him back, we don’t have to think about it, talk about it, worry about it. We’re moving forward, he’s able to play and it helps us in every way.”
In a Sports+ article for the Post, Lewis explores how not getting traded helped Nic Claxton regain his form. Through 38 games this season (19 starts, 20.3 MPG), Claxton is averaging 8.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 1.1 BPG. The 22-year-old center will be a restricted free agent this summer.
Coach Nash said LaMarcus Aldridge should be able to return to action next week, Lewis tweets. The veteran big man has missed Brooklyn’s last eight games with a right hip impingement.

Kyrie Irving Now Exempt From NYC’s Vaccine Mandate

March 24th, 2022 at 10:59am CST by Rory Maher

MARCH 24: In a press conference at Citi Field, Adams officially announced that New York City’s vaccine mandate exemption has been expanded to include local athlete and performers, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. That clears the path for Irving to begin playing in home games.

MARCH 23: Kyrie Irving has been unable to play home games the entire season for the Nets, but that could change soon.

As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Jeff Passan relay, there’s cautious optimism that New York City’s private-sector COVID-19 vaccine mandate may be rolled back soon — Irving is unvaccinated, which is why he’s been unable to play in Brooklyn. Sources tell Wojnarowski and Passan that talks are progressing to the point that Irving may be able to return for home games as soon as next week.

Sally Goldenberg of Politco goes a step further than ESPN’s report, writing that NYC mayor Eric Adams plans to reverse the vaccine mandate for performers and athletes on Thursday.

Shams Charania of The Athletic hears the same as Goldenberg, reporting that Irving will be cleared on Thursday. The change will give exemptions to unvaccinated performers and athletes, Charania states, which is the current protocol for visiting players (Twitter links).

Irving, who turned 30 today, is averaging 27.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 5.3 APG and 1.4 SPG on .490/.430/.901 shooting through 19 games this season. The seven-time All-Star holds a $36.5MM player option for next season and can become an unrestricted free agent this summer if he declines the option.

With a 38-34 record, Brooklyn is currently the No. 8 seed in the East. The Nets hold a one-game lead on the No. 9 Hornets and trail the No. 7 Raptors by two games. It’s worth noting that if the season ended today, Irving still wouldn’t be able to play at Toronto (for the play-in tournament) due to the vaccine requirements to enter Canada.

Here are a few more notes on the Nets:

Seth Curry (left ankle sprain) and Goran Dragic (left knee soreness) are out for Wednesday’s game at Memphis, but coach Steve Nash is hopeful both guards will be able to play Saturday at Miami (Twitter link via Nick Friedell of ESPN).
Unsurprisingly, Nash says he “would welcome” Irving being able to play home games soon, tweets Friedell. Brooklyn’s next home game is Sunday, March 27, against Charlotte.
Nash also said he’d be comfortable using Ben Simmons in a playoff game for his potential season debut, although that may be in a limited role off the bench, Friedell relays (via Twitter). Simmons still isn’t doing any basketball-related activities as he deals with a herniated disc in his back.