When Ben Simmons collected a rebound in the middle of the third quarter of Philadelphia's game against the Washington Wizards on Thursday, he appeared to tweak something in his lower body.
76ers fans everywhere collectively held their breath as Simmons immediately walked off the floor and checked out of the game with 5:46 remaining in the period.
According to NBC Sports Philadelphia's Serena Winters, the Aussie suffered a left knee injury on the play. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski followed up the report saying there's no pain or swelling in the knee at the moment.
Early indications on Ben Simmons are encouraging — no swelling or pain in left knee after leaving court, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 5, 2020
After the rebound, it appeared that Simmons felt discomfort immediately. He slowly dribbled to the 3-point line and began flexing his left leg.
Ben Simmons limped off the court and went straight to the locker room pic.twitter.com/G9jmjIy40Q
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) August 5, 2020
The good news for 76ers fans — Simmons underwent an MRI post-game which came back clean, with his status updated to day-to-day, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.
MRI on 76ers star Ben Simmons’ left knee came back clean and he's expected to be day-to-day, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 6, 2020
Simmons missed time earlier this season after suffering a nerve impingement in his lower back. The pause in the NBA season allowed the All-Star to get healthy and back on the court for the restart in Orlando.
The 24-year-old is averaging 16.6 points, 8.1 assists and a league-leading 2.1 steals per game.