Ben Simmons is remembering the moment his Brooklyn reset nearly turned into a nightmare before it even really began.
In ESPN’s new documentary Being Ben, Simmons said the back injury that eventually led to surgery hit around the time he was traded to the Nets in February 2022. What should have been a fresh start alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving instead became an immediate test of how much pain he could handle.
“So I’ve been dealing with that through my career, but I think it eventually gave out right before I got to Brooklyn. I think it was the day I got traded.”
He described a sudden breakdown that left him stuck in bed and in serious pain.
“I remember going to run upstairs, and my whole back just dropping out. And I went up and was laying in my bed, but I couldn’t move. And I was probably in the worst pain I had been in a long time.”
The timing made the whole thing even more jarring for him.
“And I just couldn’t believe it. Just, you know, you get traded, and then you’re with Kev, Kai, those guys of a high caliber. Yeah, and then they’re looking like, ‘Shit, we just made the trade.'”
“They’re like, ‘Damn, what’s wrong with him?’ You know, it’s supposed to be moving, supposed to be a good time, and you’re laying in bed like, ‘Holy shit, I might, I might need something, you know, surgery or whatever it is to fix this,’ because it was on another level.”
Brooklyn had just landed Simmons in a blockbuster deal centered on James Harden, hoping he could become a difference-maker next to Durant and Irving. Instead, his back issues kept him from playing a single game for the Nets the rest of the 2021-22 season.
Simmons had asked out of Philadelphia after the 2021 playoffs and was supposed to be heading into a clean new chapter. But the injury arrived before he could settle in, and it later required back surgery in May 2022.
That setback became part of a longer stretch of physical problems that have shaped the rest of his career. Simmons had already built an impressive résumé before the injuries piled up, winning Rookie of the Year in 2018, making three All-Star teams, and earning a reputation as an elite defender.
Those back problems kept pulling him off track. Stints with the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers were followed by a full year away from basketball before he returned to the league on a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Sacramento Kings in September 2026.
His comeback looked encouraging early on. In the Kings’ preseason, Simmons averaged 10.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists over two games.
Then came another blow. On Sunday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Simmons suffered a torn right Achilles tendon during practice, and an MRI confirmed the injury would end his 2026-27 season before it officially started.
Even with that setback, Simmons said another major injury would not define what comes next. And revisiting the Brooklyn chapter in his documentary only underscored how long he has been fighting through these physical roadblocks.
What was supposed to be his chance to roll into contention with Durant and Irving turned into the start of another exhausting battle. Four years later, he is once again facing a long rehab and another fight to keep his NBA career moving forward.
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