NBA News: Nets Head Coach Reveals Troubling Development With Ben Simmons

The Brooklyn Nets are walking a fine line between making the playoffs and missing it altogether as they sit at the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.

To compound their miseries, Ben Simmons is no closer to making an appearance.

Nets head coach and former two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash said that there is no update about Simmons other than “he still isn’t able to do anything” as reported by Nick Friedell of ESPN.

Simmons has become public enemy No. 1 in the NBA for much of this season since he started sitting out team activities with the Philadelphia 76ers, first due to a holdout stemming from his playoff performance against the Atlanta Hawks and second because of mental health reasons.

The latter would have been understandable from a fan’s perspective had Simmons been willing to work it out with the Sixers and find a compromise, but none of that happened.

By December 30, 2021, it was believed that Simmons had lost about $10 million due to fines from missing games and other activities.

The Sixers decided that they have finally had enough of Simmons’ behavior and unwillingness to cooperate at the NBA trade deadline last February, packaging him to the Nets in exchange for James Harden and Paul Millsap.

Recently, Nets general manager Sean Marks revealed that Simmons is still dealing with a back issue that has continued to keep him out of working out with his teammates.

With Simmons still not taking to the court until now, fans have since deemed that the Sixers were able to fleece the Nets with the trade as Harden has led them to an 8-3 record.

Kyrie Irving’s personal battle with the vaccine mandate has sparked theories that the Nets are intentionally aiming for an eighth or seventh seed in order to secure his services for much of the playoffs.

However, this has caused Nets fans to worry about their team’s state in general because if Simmons had been available to play, losing Irving for a few games would not be a major problem.

Simmons has to play sometime soon this season lest the Nets find their championship window draw ever closer to being shut as Kevin Durant enters his age 34 season by this time next year.