Ben Simmons reportedly fully recovered from back surgery, ready for Nets training camp |Max Sporty|

The offseason Ben Simmons hype train is going at full speed. Again.

Simmons played in 15 games last season in Brooklyn before shutting things down for a partial discectomy (the surgeon removes a piece of a herniated disc between vertebrae), surgery hoped to be a longer-term solution for the back effect that bothered him. for years (he played in 57 games in the last three seasons, since the last time he was named an All-Star). Simmons is said to be fully recovered from the surgery, something his coach Chris Brickley and his agent Bernie Lee put there, the latter by NBA insider Chris Haynes.

Everything Simmons should be taken with not just a grain but a full box of Morton’s Kosher salt. We’ve all been down this road several times. It’s not just that Simmons has to get to training camp healthy, he has to keep it.

There’s a lot of pressure on Simmons this season as he enters the final year of the five-year, $177 million cap extension he signed with Philadelphia in 2019 (he’ll make $40.3 million this season). His health and how he plays this season will have a major impact on his next contract – or if there is a future contract. When Simmons played last season, he averaged 6.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists a game on 58.1% shooting, looking like the Simmons we’ve come to know: A quality defender who can do almost everything on offense except shoot a jump shot, which limits him considerably him

Expect Simmons’ name to come up in trade talks around Brooklyn — and there will be plenty of trade rumors surrounding the Nets as they are expected to be sellers — but more as an expiring contract and salary cap burden than as a player.

If Simmons wants to be valued more as a player, he’s going to have to stay on the court and earn it.