Philadelphia 76ers fans will have to wait until the regular season to see Ben Simmons play competitive basketball.
Simmons missed his entire rookie season recovering from a fracture in his foot. Though the initial hope was he would be able to participate in the summer-league festivities, Sixers head coach has confirmed that he will not rep them during the exhibitions, per Derek Bodner:
"I think everybody should bunker in to hear that news" (that Ben Simmons won't play in summer league). Brett Brown on @975TheFanatic
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) May 12, 2017
This should come as no surprise. The Sixers aren’t going to take unnecessary chances with Simmons, so if he’s not ready to go, he’s not ready to go. These games don’t matter, and it’s pointless to risk further injury or rush the rehabilitation process.
The Sixers may also just not want to put unnecessary pressure on him in a summer-league setting. Hot takes and speculation will fly if he’s anything less than great, in which case he would need to an entire offseason hearing the reactions from an underwhelming performance. That’s not something to which you want to expose a potential franchise cornerstone.
Pressure will be greater in the regular season, but Simmons will at least have more opportunities, one right after the other, to prove critics wrong and, more importantly, put a bad performance or stretch of lackluster outings behind him.
