Ben Simmons targeting return Friday vs. Hawks: ‘I feel good, really good’
After missing three straight games with a left lateral calf strain, Nets star Ben Simmons will sit his fourth straight in Wednesday’s matchup against the Charlotte Hornets but is targeting Friday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks for his return.
“I feel good, really good. I’m excited where I’m at right now,” Simmons said after the Nets held a light individual work session at the HSS Training Facility in Industry City on Tuesday. “So I’m looking for Friday to get back into the court.”
Simmons said he felt his calf get tight towards the end of Brooklyn’s Nov. 27 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
That was the Nets’ fourth game in six nights, and he played 34 minutes before suiting up the following night in the second game of a back-to-back against the Orlando Magic.
Simmons asked out of the Orlando game with nine minutes left in the second quarter and has not played since. The Nets ruled him out for the remainder of that game with knee soreness before updating the diagnosis the following day to a calf strain.
It is the second time Simmons’ left knee has experienced discomfort. Simmons missed a handful of games at the beginning of November due to swelling in his left knee. He ultimately had fluid drained from his knee.
“I think we’re definitely gonna look at [managing my workload] a lot differently,” Simmons said. “I don’t know if it’s measuring minutes. Maybe not back-to-backs, I don’t know what it is. I think it’s gonna be a joint thing with the training staff and myself, letting them know how I’m feeling.”
Simmons called it “super frustrating” that his knee flared up and resulted in a calf strain so soon after he started playing at a high level.
The star forward averaged 15.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists in the six games leading into the Trail Blazers game. After laboring through the first leg of the season following offseason back surgery, Simmons reclaimed the athleticism that allowed him to impact a game just before sustaining the calf strain.
“I wanted to come back tomorrow [against the Hornets], but obviously, the team’s best interest probably is best for me to come back Friday. So [we] just have to be smart about it. It’s a long year. I think down the stretch, it’s best for us to have everyone back healthy for the playoffs.”
Head coach Jacque Vaughn said Simmons is “running a little bit, which is great to see.”
Vaughn said the challenge lies ahead in managing minutes not only for Simmons but also for both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Durant currently leads the NBA in total minutes played at 921.7. Irving has played in fewer games due to his eight-game suspension but is averaging the same number of minutes per game as Durant (36.9), and starting forward Royce O’Neale may also need his minutes managed.
O’Neale checks in right under Durant for the second-most minutes played in the NBA.
“Hopefully we get to a point where Ben’s minutes aren’t where they were previously, Kai’s minutes aren’t where they were previously, that we have the depth where we can space and share some of those minutes amongst a few guys, going towards where we want to get to once playoffs come around,” Vaughn said. “I said that to [Royce] today. I said, ‘I’m playing you too many minutes, I know.’ But we’ll resolve all that. Right now it’s early enough in the year where we can get away with it, but it’s not sustainable.”
Simmons said he thinks his knee troubles are related to his back injury. He missed time with the 76ers due to a nerve impingement in his back in 2020, suffered a herniated disk after the midseason trade to Brooklyn, received an epidural to alleviate the pain associated with that herniated disk, then ultimately underwent a microdiscectomy procedure this offseason to deal with the back troubles for good.
“You’ve just gotta be smart,” Simmons said. “Being in the league six or seven years, it’s about being healthy at the end of the year. You want all your guys healthy and ready to go, so that’s the main objective.”
Simmons said it was tough to miss the Celtics game because the Nets could have used his size and defensive presence against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“We’ve got three more games against them,” he said. “So I look forward to those games.”
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