Expectations were very high for Ben Simmons after the LSU product was taken No. 1 overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Unfortunately for 76ers fans, we’ll have to wait for quite some time to see if Simmons lives up to the hype.
President of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo announced Friday that Simmons would be shut down for the remainder of the season after it was revealed that his broken right food has not yet fully healed. The rookie initially sustained the injury on Sep. 30 during a team training camp scrimmage.
Colangelo expressed the team was hopeful Simmons would see game action this season, but believed that risking further injury was not worth it.
“We’ve always anticipated that there would be an opportunity for him to play, hopefully this season,” Colangelo told reporters. “But there was always an outside chance that it didn’t happen because there wasn’t complete or full healing. We were not going to put Ben Simmons in a situation where he was at risk for a refracture.”
Philly fans aren’t the only ones bummed out about by the announcement. Colangelo said Simmons himself did not take the news lightly.
“Unfortunately, Ben is going to sit out. That’s the bad news. The good news is one day he’ll put on a uniform,” Colangelo said. “It’s not the way you want to start your career, but it happens. We’re not excited about the news today. Ben is heartbroken.”
This is not the first time the 76ers have had to wait for a highly touted rookie to make their debut. After being drafted third overall by Philadelphia in 2014, Joel Embiid missed all of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons with a foot injury before playing in his first regular-season game on Oct. 26, 2016.
Thumbnail photo via Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports Images
