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The Nets “plan to reduce the workload on Ben Simmons” when he returns from a calf strain this week as he looks to start his time in Brooklyn after suffering multiple injuries and mental health issues.
- Ben Simmons has missed eight of the Nets’ 25 games this season with injury
- And he was sidelined again last week with a calf strain when he left the game against the Magic.
- Simmons told reporters Tuesday that he is considering a return on Friday against the Hawks.
- But his latest setback seems to have changed his mind and that of the team.
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In an off-and-on year so far for Ben Simmons, he and the Nets are apparently considering a new approach to their workload as he contemplates a return on Friday.
Simmons, who missed all of last season with back and mental health problems, played the first six games of the season, well below his best, before missing the next four with knee pain.
And after a stretch in which he played 11 of the next 12 games and frequently exceeded 30 minutes a night, Simmons was sidelined yet again last week with a calf strain.
Ben Simmons will hope to return to his pre-injury comeback if he returns to the field on Friday.
While a return against the Hawks would mean he’s sat out only four games, the latest setback seems to have changed the organization’s thinking when it comes to handling it.
“I think we’re definitely going to look at [workload] very different,’ Simmons told reporters Tuesday.
‘Maybe not [playing] back to back or whatever. I think it will be something joint with the coaching staff and myself.
‘He’s going to take everyone. Some guys may not play one night,” Simmons said. “We have to make sacrifices and do what we can to help win games.”
Simmons’ latest injury concern came at an unfortunate time, as he was playing his best basketball as a Net with double-digit points in six straight games.
Simmons has missed eight of the Nets’ 25 games so far, with another expected on Wednesday.
The Nets have had other health problems besides Simmons, with Seth Curry missing eight of the first nine games with ankle problems and TJ Warren, who has recovered from left foot trouble, only making his NBA debut. season last week.
Those issues have created gaps on the rest of the roster, which is why Kevin Durant leads the league in minutes, and Simmons has evidently been trying too hard as well.
“In an ideal setting of things, we don’t want to play Kevin that many minutes in the future. And hopefully we get to a point where Ben’s minutes aren’t where they were before, [Kyrie Irving’s] the minutes aren’t where they were before,’ coach Jacque Vaughn said.
‘[We hope] that we have the depth that we can space out and share some of those minutes between some guys who are moving forward and tending towards where we want to be once the playoffs come around.’