The latest setback – checking out with nine minutes left in the first half against the Magic – comes just as he was finding his stride for the first time as a Net.
The 26-year-old – who was traded to Brooklyn on Feb. 10 for former MVP James Harden – did not play last season due to both mental health issues and a bad back. The latter required a microdiscectomy procedure in May to repair a herniated L-4 disc, but has had lasting effects even this season, now on the other side of his body.
Simmons missed four consecutive games from Oct. 31 through Nov. 5 – Indiana, Washington, Charlotte and Chicago – with swelling in his knee. He also sat out the Nov. 13 loss at the Lakers with the same problem. At that point Simmons was averaging just 5.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists, all career-lows. He was a team-worst minus-43, and his minus-4.8 per game was 410th out of 455 players per NBA.com.
But ever since returning from that knee injury, Simmons has seemed like a new player. Or perhaps more accurately, like a facsimile of his old All-Star self.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST Photo In the prior seven games coming into Monday night – five of them starts – Simmons’ plus-29 was just a point behind Kevin Durant for the best on the team, looking spry and explosive. He averaged 13.6 points, as well as 7.6 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.6 steals. The latter three figures were all team-highs.
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