Nets guard Ben Simmons, who has played just 15 games this season, will miss the rest of the season because of back problems. Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
NEW YORK — Ben Simmons will miss the remainder of the season, the third straight year the former All-Star’s season has ended early because of back problems.
The Brooklyn Nets said Thursday that Simmons will use the rest of this season to consult with specialists and seek treatment options for the pinched nerve in his lower back that has sidelined him twice this season.
Simmons has been limited to 15 games this season. He missed 38 straight at one point and has sat out the last five.
“Simmons, along with his representatives and Nets medical personnel, are currently in discussions with numerous experts to determine the course of action that will provide him with the best opportunity for long-term sustainable health,” the Nets said.
The No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft finishes with averages of 6.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He has played in just 57 games and has not finished a season since the Nets acquired him from Philadelphia at the trade deadline in 2022 in the deal that sent James Harden to the 76ers.
Simmons hadn’t played for Philadelphia to start that season, citing mental health concerns, and then hurt his back trying to regain his conditioning after arriving in Brooklyn. He had a microdiscectomy, a procedure to remove a small fragment of a herniated disc, after that season ended.
Simmons then played in just 42 games in 2022-23 before he was shut down in March because of a nerve impingement in his lower back.
He was healthy again and reinstalled as the starting point guard to begin this season, but then was injured in a Nov. 6 loss to Milwaukee. It was originally believed that he had a left hip injury, before an MRI exam determined that the pain was caused by his lower back.
Simmons didn’t play again until Jan. 29, when he had 10 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench in a rout of Utah. But he played in only eight more games.
Simmons has one year and about $40 million remaining on his contract.
TIMBERWOLVES: All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns was ruled out of the game at Indiana on Thursday because of what the team listed as left knee soreness.
The Athletic and ESPN reported that Towns has a torn meniscus and was mulling options for treatment. The Timberwolves declined to confirm the reports.
The ninth-year forward has helped the Western Conference-leading Timberwolves thrive this season, averaging 22.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game while shooting a career-best 42.3% from 3-point range. Towns has missed only one previous game to injury this season, for left knee soreness on Dec. 23.
He showed no obvious signs of trouble in Minnesota’s most recent game on Monday against Portland, but he played only 21 minutes, his second-lowest total of the season.
The absence of Towns will put more scoring burden on All-Star Anthony Edwards and also elevate the role off the bench of Naz Reid, who is the primary backup to Towns and center Rudy Gobert.
HAWKS: Atlanta forward Jalen Johnson will miss Friday night’s game at Memphis because of a sprained right ankle.
Johnson was injured in the third quarter of a victory over Cleveland on Wednesday. X-rays were negative, but he was listed as day to-day and did not travel with the team to face the Grizzlies.
Johnson is having a breakout campaign in his third NBA season, averaging 15.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
ALL-STAR GAME: The Phoenix Suns will host the 2027 NBA All-Star game, the league announced, giving owner Mat Ishbia a marquee event for the city roughly one year after he purchased the franchise.
This will be the fourth time Phoenix has hosted the All-Star game and first since 2009. The Suns also hosted in 1975 and 1995.
Ishbia agreed to buy the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury from the embattled Robert Sarver for about $4 billion in December 2022 and officially took control a few months later. In his first few days of ownership, Ishbia approved a blockbuster trade to land Kevin Durant, and his big-spending ways have made him popular with fans.
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