The early indications seem to indicate Ben Simmons has averted the worst.
Simmons, who exited Thursday’s loss to the Pistons within the second half with what was termed as knee soreness, is questionable for Saturday’s Barclays Middle matchup with the Knicks, the Nets mentioned Friday.
Leaving the door open for Simmons to return with out lacking a recreation is constructive for the crew and Simmons, who has missed 11 video games this season attributable to damage, a number of of which have concerned his left knee.
Simmons exited a Nov. 28 win over the Magic with knee soreness, which additionally arrived whereas enjoying the second finish of a back-to-back. Simmons performed 28:42 of Wednesday’s loss in Philadelphia earlier than logging 19:47 Thursday.
It was unclear whether or not Simmons felt the soreness on a selected play. He appeared to take a shot to the face from Detroit’s Jaden Ivey earlier than heading to the locker room within the third quarter.
“The purpose is … for everybody to play each recreation and to do what’s essential to be ready to play each recreation,” head coach Jacque Vaughn mentioned when requested about well being considerations with Simmons when enjoying consecutive days. “… You simply have to provide credit score to the fellows who had been ready to play, able to play, did what was essential to get their our bodies able to play.”
Simmons left the sport scoreless, 0-for-3 from the sphere and with seven assists. He has struggled to tackle a bigger function within the offense within the eight video games since Kevin Durant sprained his MCL, occasionally driving and infrequently settling for hook photographs when he does discover himself within the paint.
Because the Durant damage, Simmons has averaged six factors, 5.9 rebounds and eight.3 assists whereas the Nets have dropped six of the eight video games.