Sixers rookie Ben Simmons has fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, and there’s no timeline on when he might recover until team doctors run more tests. We’ll update this post as we get more information on this horrific Friday development, but below is how it broke, with us first hearing the news from the Philadelphia Daily News‘ Bob Cooney.
Ben Simmons has fracture in his right foot. Further details coming.
— Bob Cooney (@BobCooney76) September 30, 2016
Daily News has learned of fracture in right foot of Ben Simmons.
— Bob Cooney (@BobCooney76) September 30, 2016
Two sources confirmed that Simmons the fracture and that Simmons will be evaluated further. Team will post announcement shortly
— Bob Cooney (@BobCooney76) September 30, 2016
ESPN’s Marc Stein confirmed what Cooney tweeted:
League source confirms @BobCooney76 report: Ben Simmons indeed has suffered a fracture in his right foot
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 30, 2016
In yet another awful twist of fate, in a release, the Sixers say Simmons rolled his ankle during the final scrimmage of the team’s training camp on Friday.
Philadelphia 76ers forward Ben Simmons rolled his right ankle during the final scrimmage of the team’s 2016 Training Camp at Stockton University earlier today.
After receiving an X-ray and MRI of the foot and ankle, the images were reviewed by Sixers Head Physician Dr. Christopher Dodson and Sixers Chief Medical Officer and Co-Chief of Sports Medicine Orthopedics at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center Dr. Jonathan Glashow.
It was determined that Simmons suffered a fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone of his right foot.
Further medical evaluation and treatment options are being considered at this time and additional updates will be provided when appropriate.
For comparison’s sake, Aaron Gordon fractured the fifth metatarsal of his left foot on November 15 of his rookie year. He missed almost half of his rookie season (he appeared in 47 games) and didn’t return to the Magic lineup until Jan. 18.
Here’s a spot where you can find information about every NBA player who has fractured that metatarsal bone. It’s not an unusual break, at least among NBA players, but there have been complications for some, most notably seven-footer Brook Lopez.
Brook had to go under the knife for multiple surgeries before he was again able to be a consistent presence in the Brooklyn front court, so let’s hope the same fate doesn’t await Simmons.
This is dreadful news for a Sixers team that was finally shaping up to be exciting after such an infamous and prolonged stretch of losing and injury issues. We’d make a trusting the process joke, but that would just be cruel at this point. If you have any friends who are Sixers fans, please be kind to them this weekend.
