Ben Simmons Reveals He Has Healed

Philadelphia 76ers rookie and first overall pick Ben Simmons revealed his foot has healed, one day before the final game of the season.

Ben Simmons will likely have proven to be worth the wait for the Philadelphia 76ers, but that doesn’t meant this season was fun for fans and the team. The months of waiting to hear about the progression of Simmons’ injury recovery was weighing heavily on fans, and they were finally informed at one point that he would be kept out for the entire year.

It was a frustrating conundrum because the Sixers have had rookie players miss full seasons more than once lately. Nerlens Noel missed his first full season, and Joel Embiid missed two full years due to injury (only to play 31 games in his rookie season). The Sixers certainly don’t have the best luck, and with Simmons injury seemingly worsening, the fans were getting worried that they would see him miss some of next year, too.

On the afternoon the day before the game, however, Simmons sent out a Tweet that, of course, stirred up questions and assumptions from fans.

Does this mean he’s done recovering? Does it mean anything at all? Of course, with this team we often ask a lot of questions and get very few answers. That wasn’t the case on Tuesday, though, as Simmons set out to answer the questions that came from his Tweet.

Within the video, Simmons opened up a bit for fans, and talked about how the time off this season was a huge learning experience for him, and how he really was in pain not being able to play. He also said he was thankful for the year off, and even referred to it as an advantage because he got to “redshirt” and really take some time to just learn the game.

Finally, Simmons ended his video revealing that he was cleared after his medical scan, saying, “green check. We live.”

Here’s a full transcript of the video:

"“What’s up guys, it’s my first video in a while. Obviously, I did not have the season I wanted to, but I feel like I learned a lot this season. And we have one more game left, and I think the team really stuck together the whole year, but for me personally, I got to learn a lot. And the whole being out for that long, and people want to see me play, fans obviously, but more, myself. I thought I would come into the league ready to go. But you know, I had a setback, and it really gave me a chance to open my eyes and realize I have a lot of work to do. But at the same time, it gave me a learning opportunity that most guys don’t get. I had like a redshirt season. You know, for me, I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to play, and tried to get an advantage by learning the game and how the league works. But, you know, I think I’m really appreciative of everyone around me supporting me, my fans, family of course, friends, Sixers, Sixers staff especially, they did a great job of making sure I was safety first and making sure I was good. So, I’ll leave you with that. Obviously I had my scan today, green check, we live. I’m looking forward to getting back on the court, and I’m looking forward to a big season with the Sixers.”"

Brian Windhorst reported about 20 minutes later some more concrete information, that Simmons was cleared for 5-on-5 activity. He also revealed, much to Brett Brown’s dislike, that he isn’t expected to play in summer league, probably as the team is still being careful with him moving forward.

NEXT : Brett Brown Isn't Sure Ben Simmons Can Play Point

And if that doesn’t get you excited for next season, I’m not sure what will.