April 11, 2017
With the way news is disseminated nowadays, it should come as no surprise that Ben Simmons announced that the scan he had on his right foot earlier today went well by tweeting out a single checkmark emoji:
✅
— Ben Simmons (@BenSimmons25) April 11, 2017
It seemed to many people (including yours truly) that last year’s top overall draft pick was indicating that he had received some encouraging news on the health front. That hunch was correct as Simmons went to his buddy LeBron James' Uninterrupted platform to share the news by saying, "Green check, we live."
.@bensimmons25 speaks, is cleared: "Green check. We live." pic.twitter.com/td44QfVvNT
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) April 12, 2017
And according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Simmons has been cleared for five-on-five action after the scan on his foot.
Ben Simmons has been cleared for 5-on-5 work after a clean scan on his right foot today. But he is not expected to play in summer league.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) April 12, 2017
After a solid two months of nothing but bad injury news, this will come as a relief to the Sixers. Simmons originally suffered the acute Jones fracture of the fifth metatarsal stepping on teammate Shawn Long’s foot back on September 30th, the final day of training camp.
There was a thought that Simmons would return some time this season due to the general timetable of the injury and a minor slip-up from Brett Brown at one point, but that never materialized. A late-February scan revealed that Simmons’ foot had not fully healed, at which point he was ruled out for the rest of the season.
While it may be disappointing to some that Simmons probably won’t play in summer league, I never really thought it was necessary after the passing clinic he put on display last summer.
Brett Brown said it would be good if Ben Simmons played summer league, but "it's not a prerequisite." #Sixers
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) April 10, 2017
The fact that the top overall draft pick is finally cleared to play five-on-five as soon as the games are over perfectly sums up the Sixers’ 2016-17 injury situation. But with all the challenges they have been through on that front, they’ll certainly take it.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
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