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Friday represented progress for Ben Simmons. Not a ton of progress just yet, but better than the alternative for the Nets.
For the first time since November, Simmons ramped up his participation in practice, progressing to a workout with coaches. There is still no sign of a return for Simmons, who missed his 29th straight game Friday with a nerve impingement in his left lower back, but there is the beginning of momentum.
Previously, Simmons had been limited to individual workouts.
“The ability to get on court with multiple bodies around him — that’s kind of where he’s at and just building from here,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said before the Nets beat the Thunder, 124-115, at Barclays Center. “So some good signs moving forward.”
There are many more steps for the 27-year-old to take, needing to build up to three-on-three and five-on-five, before a return could come into view.
Before going down, Simmons had played in just six games — none since Nov. 6 — and looked like a pace-pushing, excellent-defending, lengthy weapon with the same hang-ups (an offensive passivity and inability to shoot) that have plagued him his entire Nets tenure.
He was averaging 6.5 points, 10.8 rebounds and 6.7 assists for a Nets team that has struggled, particularly defensively, without him.
It is not the offensive questions that now follow Simmons the most. Since the February 2022 trade that brought him to Brooklyn and sent James Harden to Philadelphia, Simmons has played in 48 of a possible 146 regular-season games, and there is doubt whether his back will allow him to consistently be a contributor to the Nets (or any team).
Simmons did not step foot on the court in that 2021-22 season, with both mental-health concerns and a back issue that required surgery.
Simmons was often banged up but able to play in 42 games last season before a knee injury struck in mid-February, followed by back soreness, which was later identified as a nerve impingement that knocked him out for the rest of the season.
Simmons said he felt “amazing” during training camp ahead of this season, but he has not played in two months since the back acted up again.
The No. 1-overall pick in 2016 and three-time All-Star is making about $37.9 million this season and is due $40.3 million for next season, the last year of his contract.
If he can launch a career and Nets comeback, perhaps it started Friday.
“We’re just got to continue to see how his strength measurements continue to build and just increasing the stimuli for him,” Vaughn said, “whether that’s multiple bodies around him, whether that’s coaches and players moving forward. Nothing … has set him back from progressing.”
The Nets were given a scare — and they hope that is all — with 27.6 seconds left Friday when Cam Johnson lay sprawled out on the floor after landing awkwardly following a drive.
Johnson was pulled from the game and did not re-enter, though Vaughn believed Johnson’s hamstring was merely cramping.
Vaughn called it a “first prognosis” and said they would assess Johnson on Saturday.
A day after the NBA fined the Nets $100,000 for “violating the league’s Player Participation Policy” in sitting many rotation players during a Dec. 27 loss to the Bucks, Vaughn colorfully declined comment.
“I think I’m going to keep that one for my memoirs,” Vaughn said when asked his reaction. “I’ll just say I’m just ready to move on. We’ll own it. It’s done, and off we go.”
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