Why time and circumstances are making it increasingly unlikely Ben Simmons plays this season

After first holding out while with the Philadelphia 76ers, citing mental health issues, Simmons then suffered a back injury while ramping up to play in the wake of engineering a blockbuster trade to Brooklyn on Feb. 10. As a result, Simmons hasn’t played a second this season, and as he now deals with a herniated L-4 disc, a league source acknowledged it’s looking unlikely he will at this point.

The good news is that Simmons has seen enough improvement with his back recently to give the Nets and their sidelined All-Star hope that he can at least avoid surgery this off-season.

“It looks like he’s doing a little bit better,” the league source told The Post. “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.”

Unfortunately, Simmons — the centrepiece of the package Brooklyn got in return for James Harden — is no stranger to back woes, with this being his fourth such injury in the past two years.

Simmons had missed eight straight games and was getting daily treatment for nerve issues in his lower back when the 2019-20 campaign was halted by COVID-19. The next season, he suffered nerve impingement in his lower back, with pain so severe it induced vomiting.

There was another flare-up earlier this season while with the Sixers, and now this latest incident after he joined the Nets. When, exactly, it occurred, is unknown, but it’s clear it was at some point between Feb. 26 — when he flew with the team to join them for a game at Milwaukee — and March 3, when general manager Sean Marks acknowledged the setback.

What do you want to know about the Nets? Submit a question to the Post Sports+ mailbag and check upcoming editions of Inside the Nets for a response from Brian.

Simmons’ back pain was problematic enough that the team avoided putting him on an aeroplane for almost a month. Two orthopaedic experts told The Post last month that Simmons would be highly unlikely to win the race against time and play this regular-season, while one added he’d almost certainly require an epidural and possibly off-season surgery.

Days later, Simmons got that epidural while the Nets were away in Orlando playing the Magic on March 15.

Apparently, progress has been made, both according to sources with the team and close to Simmons himself. His condition had improved enough to fly to both Miami on March 26 and Atlanta on April 2. He’s resumed light on-court work — albeit with a minimum of motion — and, most encouragingly, he’s been able to get on a treadmill.

While the Alter G device he has been using allows individuals to run at a lower percentage of their body weight and do rehab with less pain, the fact he can run at all bodes well for escaping the need for summer surgery.

“Yeah, the improvement is there,” the source told the Post. “And I think he’ll avoid having to do any type of procedure.”

But time has all but run out on getting Simmons back this season. The Nets close out their schedule tomorrow against the visiting Indiana Pacers before having to gear up for a play-in game on Tuesday if they’re in the 7-8 game, or the next night if they fall into the 9-10 tilt.

For their part, the Nets are not pushing him.

“He’s doing good,” Nets star Kevin Durant said of Simmons. “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.”

That certainly won’t be in the regular season, and might only be in the postseason if the Nets make a very extended run past the play-in and deep into the playoffs.

Durant, who missed his entire first campaign in Brooklyn recovering from a ruptured Achilles suffered in June 2019, cannot only sympathise but empathise with Simmons. He understands the value of patience when it comes to rehab, but said his younger teammates didn’t need any guidance or pearls of wisdom from him on the topic.

“I don’t have any advice for him,” Durant said. “He understands what he needs to do – he’s a pro. I think he just needs to know we support him, and we want him to get healthy. We don’t want him to rush, even though we want to play with him badly. … Take your time and get right.”

Whenever the Nets get Simmons right — and with him under contract for three more years and $113.7 million, they’re in it for the long haul — they expect him to join Durant and Kyrie Irving as their new Big Three, replacing the departed Harden.

Between sitting out his rookie campaign with a foot injury and missing this year (so far), Simmons logged four seasons in Philadelphia and made three All-Star games, finishing as the runner-up in last season’s Defensive Player of the Year balloting. The former top overall pick has averaged 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists over his career, the prime years of which should be spent in Brooklyn.

Many in the Nets organisation feel once Simmons gets on the court he can be a devastating passer as a smallball centre or a great playmaker while being the roll man. Picture a much taller, better-passing version of what Bruce Brown provides. It’s the kind of impact Draymond Green has had in Golden State.

“Just gives us some more size, someone that can handle the basketball,” Durant said. “It’s always good having someone that can penetrate and touch the paint, That always brings good results when you can do that. Ben is elite at that.

“Obviously, [his] switching out on defence and being able to cover different body types on the floor … is going to help us as well. I just like his overall game. You can’t box him in: He’s a basketball player. I think he’ll just provide what we need; and it may be different every night for him.”

Late last week, ESPN reported that Simmons and his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, filed a grievance to recoup salary withheld by the Sixers. Though Philadelphia GM Daryl Morey told the “Rights to Ricky Sanchez” podcast that he believed Simmons was telling the truth about his issues, the Sixers claimed Simmons was in breach of his contract under the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NBPA and thus the team had the right to recoup the salary advanced to Simmons before this season.

Agent Rich Paul talks to his client Ben Simmons during halftime of a basketball game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Philadelphia 76ers at Staples Center on January 01, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.

Asked after Wednesday’s Board of Governors meetings if there was any specific discussion of the impending arbitration or if the league would play a role in the process, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said no to both.

“There was no discussion certainly specifically about Ben Simmons, and the league would not have direct involvement with that arbitration,” said Silver. “It goes to a neutral arbitrator. I’m looking at our general counsel, but that’s not something for us to have direct involvement in, litigation that we’d be on the sidelines for.”

Edwards’ excellence is rewarded

Converting rookie two-way Kessler Edwards to a standard contract would not only make the 3-and-D wing eligible for the playoffs, it would also clear a two-way spot for the Nets to add another developmental player to the roster. Center Thon Maker, 3-point specialist Bryce Brown and wing Craig Randall — who blossomed from a tryout player to G League MVP candidate — are all possibilities from Long Island.

One foul too many

The standard spot was opened up when the Nets waived James Johnson Thursday afternoon, exceptionally late in the season for such a move. The ageing forward hadn’t played since Brooklyn’s loss in Atlanta last Saturday, when Kevin Durant chastised him on the court to “just play” and “shut the f — k up” after Johnson — who was among the team leaders in fouls per game — had committed another foul and complained to the ref.

Johnson missed the next two games with what was labelled a non-Covid illness before he was dismissed altogether.

-The New York Post