Kristian Winfield: It’s time for the Nets to put Ben Simmons in rice

It’s time for the Nets to put Ben Simmons in rice. Like a smartphone with water damage, Simmons is malfunctioning, and this is the franchise’s last option before trading it in for a new one.

Simmons, who is visibly inhibited by his offseason back surgery (a microdiscectomy after suffering a herniated disk) is now dealing with swelling in his left knee, swelling that will sideline him for at least the Nets’ upcoming road back-to-back in Washington and Charlotte.

Swelling that is a byproduct of rushing him back to the court following back surgery in May after missing the entire 2021-22 NBA season due to a combination of mental health and back issues.

Swelling that may have been avoidable had the Nets managed Simmons’ load early into the season.

Instead, the Nets played Simmons 32 minutes a night — a tick under his career average — to start the year even though it was clear his back issues are still plaguing him.

You can tell by how he runs: upright and uptight with short strides.

You can tell by how he jumps: without much lift, barely able to finish layups, let alone dunk the ball.

Even the harshest criticism of Simmons, who has never been known as an aggressive scorer, conveniently danced around his athletic gifts, unique for a player of his size.

Yet this is not the Ben Simmons who helped make the 76ers perennial contenders. It is not the Ben Simmons the Nets envisioned would fill James Harden’s shoes when they made the blockbuster deal with Philadelphia last season.

This Simmons is a shell of himself. He is a smartphone with water damage, and the only way to save such a phone is to put it in rice — otherwise the phone must be traded in for a new one.

So it’s only right the Nets put him in rice, or on ice. Given his importance to the success of this team, they can’t continue to put him at risk.

Not at risk of re-injury — he grimaced in pain and hunched over grabbing his lower back after colliding with Giannis Antetokounmpo in a game against the Bucks — or at risk of unnecessary public ridicule: A New York fixture, Harlem-born rapper Cam’Ron, sat courtside for a Nets game against the Dallas Mavericks on Oct. 27, then went on an aggressive, expletive-laden rant on his Instagram story about how Simmons airballed a layup.

“Ben Simmons, stop wasting my [people’s] time,” Cam’Ron said. “Stop playing with [people]. You got [people] playing two on fu---ng five out there. If you don’t want to play basketball, go f—k with the Kardashians, the Jenners, whoever the f-–k you’re with.

“I went to the fu—ng game last night, and I watched you shoot an airball layup. Stop playing with my [people]. KD, Kyrie, I know y’all may not approve this message. This ain’t on them. This is on me. Stop playing with my [people]. Real talk, Ben. If you don’t want to play basketball, go do what the f-–k you wanna do.

“I could suit up and get two points, six fouls.”

As of now, Simmons isn’t practicing. He is only getting treatment to alleviate the soreness in his knee. The knee is secondary because the swelling will subside with time. It is the back that remains a cause for concern because backs are fickle. They can be fine today then flare up tomorrow.

Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. also expressed a need for the world to be patient with Simmons. Porter can uniquely relate, having undergone multiple back surgeries in his basketball career.

“That’s the biggest thing that happens with a back injury — whether it’s a back injury or a back sprain or strain, or the things I dealt with, or what Ben Simmons is dealing with: It takes a while for explosiveness or athleticism and all those things to come back,” Porter said in a recent interview. “People are so hard on Ben Simmons, but I know what he’s going through because he’s able to play right now, but he’s not back to [being] Ben Simmons, and it’ll take a little while for him to have all the explosiveness.

“He’ll get that back, but it takes time, so I think anything with the back, it inhibits a lot of the explosiveness.”

Explosiveness is the foundation of Simmons’ game. It’s what’s made him a perennial All-Star, a perennial All-Defense Team member, and it’s what makes the idea of him alongside Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and a bevy of shooters and rim finishers dangerous in the Eastern Conference.

Those ideas, however, can’t come to life if Simmons isn’t healthy, and the only way to ensure he gets there is to shut him down — or put him in rice — until he is fully functioning once again.