Source: Mike Lawrie / Getty / Ben Simmons
UPDATE: 12 p.m. ET, March 7
It turns out the back issues that’s been plaguing Ben Simmons’ ability to play just got even worse. The Nets reveal that the Australian baller will be out for the rest of the 2023-24 season.
“Ben Simmons will remain out for the remainder of the season while he consults with specialists and explores treatment options for the nerve impingement in his lower back,” the team said in a statement. “Simmons, along with his representatives and Nets medical personnel, are currently in discussions with numerous experts to determine the course of action that will provide him with the best opportunity for long-term sustainable health.”
The injury has long been part of Simmons’ NBA narrative and the reasoning behind him only suiting up for 15 of this season’s 62 games.
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The excuses for Ben Simmons’ struggling NBA career continue. His agent is now taking the blame for his client’s bad back.
Spotted on Deadspin, Bernie Lee, agent for the fashionable bench warmer Ben Simmons, is claiming he is the reason his client can’t stay on the court.
Since the trade –or fleecing, depending on who you ask– that saw the Brooklyn franchise send notoriously unhappy superstar James Harden to the Sixers before pouting his way onto the Clippers for Ben Simmons, the Nets have yet to get a return on investment on the one-time player who many were comparing to LeBron James.
Simmons’ struggles with mental issues and a bad back have kept him off the court, with him appearing in a measly 57 out of a possible 128. This season, Simmons has only appeared in 15 of the Nets’ games so far.
The reason for Simmons’ failure to live up to the hype has now fallen on his agent, who is taking all the blame.
“It is a continuation of the same injury that he has dealt with all year. … We are trying to get clearer answers as to how to get him out of the reactive cycle he’s in.
“… We continue to try and find non-surgical options to allow Ben to move forward on a permanent basis and that is where this is my responsibility and I am [the] one to blame.
“When I began working with Ben, I made a commitment to him that I would do everything I could to find the right answers and specialists for him to work with [in order] to move forward from the issues he has been having. Clearly, it hasn’t happened, and that’s my responsibility.”
Is He Also Responsible For Ben Simmons Losing His Basketball Skills?
That’s interesting. Is Lee taking the blame for Simmons seemingly forgetting how to play professional basketball, too?
NBA X, formerly NBA Twitter, has grown tired of the excuses and is reacting to the latest developments in Ben Simmons’s professional basketball career saga.
You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
