Steve Nash 'extremely' hopeful Ben Simmons can play for Brooklyn Nets before regular season ends

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Brooklyn Nets still have no idea exactly when Ben Simmons will be able to make his season debut as he continues to deal with a back injury, but coach Steve Nash said after the shootaround Tuesday that he has «extremely high hopes that we'll see him in the regular season.»

«He's just doing his rehab, strengthening,» Nash said. «We're still doing that side of things rather than court work right now.»

The uncertainty surrounding Simmons' status is drawing even more attention given that the Nets have just 14 regular season games left and Simmons, who was acquired at the trade deadline last month from the Philadelphia 76ers, still hasn't been cleared to practice. When the back issue popped up in the last week of February, Nash thought it was just some soreness related to the fact that Simmons hadn't played all season as he waited on a trade out of Philadelphia, but the issue has become more serious in recent weeks as Simmons hasn't been able to do anything outside of some individual work. Simmons did not accompany the Nets to Orlando.

«The biggest thing we've tried to do is to have him be involved in everything,» Nash said. «The traveling is the one caveat where sometimes you're weighing the cost-benefit of him on airplanes and buses and different beds. When he's with us we want him in every meeting, in every walkthrough, in every film session, whatever it may be so he's around the group. We'd love for him to travel, be with the team all the time, but we have to weigh that scenario as well.»

Nash said that Simmons, who joined the Nets last week in Philadelphia, has been in the meetings with the team when he's with the group — but he did acknowledge it's going to take even more time to find a rhythm once