Ben Simmons Won't Travel with Nets for 76ers Series, Will Focus on Back Injury Rehab

Brooklyn Nets point guard Ben Simmons will not travel to Philadelphia for the team's upcoming first-round playoffs matchup against the 76ers and will remain in New York to continue rehabbing his back injury, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps.

The Nets and Sixers first-round series will begin with Game 1 on Saturday at Wells Fargo Center.

It's not necessarily surprising to hear that Simmons isn't traveling for the matchup against his former team, especially because the fans at Wells Fargo Center have been relentless in heckling the veteran since he sat out the 2021-22 season before being traded to the Nets.

Simmons has not played for the Nets since a Feb. 15 win over the Miami Heat due to knee and back injuries. He had fluid in his left knee drained and received a platelet-rich plasma injection before the All-Star break.

The Nets then announced on March 24 that Simmons had been diagnosed with a nerve impingement in his back, and head coach Jacque Vaughn told reporters at the time that the 26-year-old's odds of returning to the court this season were minimal.

"Ben was going through the process of strengthening, being on the court, being reevaluated. During one of those reevaluations, the impingement presented itself… He's probably not going to join us for the rest of the year, in all honesty," Vaughn said.

Simmons missed all of the 2021-22 season with a herniated disk in his back and underwent a microdiscectomy procedure in May, so the Nets have been careful and patient in their approach to his back injury rehab this season.

In 42 regular-season games this year, Simmons averaged just 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists while shooting 56.6 percent from the floor. He's far from the player he once was, and his NBA future is going to be one to watch closely once his current contract expires in 2025.