As if the Nets didn’t have enough to deal with, add knee swelling for Ben Simmons to the list of things going on in Kings County.
Interim head coach Jacque Vaughn said on Thursday that Simmons would not be traveling with the team for the next two games when the Nets face the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets on the road. The often scrutinized point guard has been dealing with swelling and sourness in his knee.
A knee issue had already kept him out of the last two games for the Nets and now that will extend through the start of the road trip. The Nets play three on the road with Dallas being the final stop on Monday.
“I’m gonna say the first two for sure just because of the back-to-back and then we’ll kind of asses to see where he is after that,” Vaughn said.
Simmons has been undergoing treatment to get the swelling down, according to Vaughn.
Simmons’ latest setback only adds to the issues and comes after he has had a rough start to the year individually. Simmons, who the Nets acquired in a deal that sent James Harden to Philadelphia in February, had fouled out in two of the first three games this year and hasn’t been where the Nets have needed him to be since returning to the floor.
The latest setback for Simmons comes amid a flurry of chaos for the Nets, which includes the need for a new head coach after Steve Nash was let go on Tuesday and the ongoing turmoil with Kyrie Irving due to a post on social media.
Reports have indicated that Ime Udoka is set to become the next head coach in Brooklyn, but he comes with plenty of baggage of his own after he was suspended this season by the Celtics for an improper relationship with a female staffer.
It’s unclear when that or any hire would be made and Vaughn said was taking his head coaching duties day by day as long as the Nets needed him to. Brooklyn finds itself in the middle of a 2-6 start this season amid all the other drama.
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“I think for me I’m just going to do my job, what I’m asked of, and serve in this capacity,” Vaughn remarked after being asked if he was taking over a dysfunctional franchise.
The interim coach added that Seth Curry, who has also missed the last two games, would play in one of the two games in the back-to-back.
