It’s official: Simmons out for season
After declaring Ben Simmons out for the season due to a surgically repaired foot that has been slow to fully heal, 76ers president Bryan Colangelo Friday let some even more disturbing news drop.
Asked if there were plans for the Sixers’ rookie guard to require even more medical attention, Colangelo replied, “Not yet.”
So, the season-long issue still technically has no end date.
His foot broken at the top of training camp, Simmons has missed his entire rookie season. Though he has been working at some level in certain low-impact drills, and while all parties have stressed throughout the recovery that he would return sometime this season, Simmons will not play at least until the summer.
A CT scan performed Thursday, Colangelo indicated, that Simmons was not healing as quickly as they’d all hoped. With only 26 games to play, Colangelo and the Sixers said there was insufficient time to prepare the No. 1 overall pick in the last draft for full-contact basketball.
“I really want to get everybody together and talk about what the next steps are, to make sure we are going down the right path,” Colangelo said, at a morning press conference in the Sixers’ practice facility. “We will do everything possible to promote the best possible scenario for him, and that’s where we are today?”
Though Colangelo had previously declared that Simmons was to have his final CT scan before being cleared, he has reconsidered his position and ruled out nothing as the Sixers try to work the point guard into full health.
“Will that happen in the next couple of days?” Colangelo said. “Will a determination be made? It’s unknown. I can’t tell what would come of that meeting that would cover needs. I hope that it’s not the case that it would require something more serious or an intervention in some way. But where we are today is just staying the course.”
Initially Friday, Colangelo sounded certain that Simmons would be healthy in time to join the Sixers for summer league activity. But he understood that repeated messages of Simmons’ likely availability have come through scrambled to the fans. As such, he was careful to allow that additional procedures were, at least, possible.
Either way, the Sixers have remained clear: They will not OK Simmons to play until they find that he is in no additional danger of a relapse.
“He’s heartbroken,” said Colangelo, as the Sixers declined to make Simmons available for comment. “He wants to play. I am sure it is eating him alive.”