Ben Simmons Needs More Testing & Ruled OUT vs Hawks

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Ben Simmons received an MRI on Sunday and will need to receive more tests. He has been ruled out for Monday's game against the Atlanta Hawks.

This news does not seem very promising. When tying this information together with how the injury looked in the Bucks game, it feels as if it's a significant injury. He attacked the basket for a layup, but when landing, he clearly was bent over due to back pain.

Besides his rookie season where Simmons sat out the entire year with a foot injury, he played 81 games in 2017-18 and 79 games in 2018-19.

He is a very reliable player when it comes to health and he also logs a ton of minutes on the floor each night. The broadcast team during the game in Milwaukee mentioned how the Sixers would have Simmons leave the floor throughout the game to get work done on his back in the locker room.

That didn't register to me as something that made a ton of sense since the organization normally does not operate that way. If the back pain was going to be that serious, his long term health would normally be on their mind.

Simmons did fall hard in the All-Star Game so there is speculation that maybe it started then. The Sixers are claiming it occurred during practice after the break was over.

I don't see how this team would be able to operate without him on the floor if he is going to miss a significant amount of time. This is very concerning.