Nets’ Ben Simmons ‘not certain’ to play on Saturday vs. Wizards

Ben Simmons is on the verge of missing his fourth consecutive game for the Nets on Saturday when the Washington Wizards come to Barclays Center. Simmons has been dealing with left knee soreness that had kept him out of the last three contests and head coach Jacque Vaughn said on Friday that he could be out again.

Simmons, along with T.J. Warren who has also been sidelined with a knee issue, worked out on the court on Thursday and the Nets head coach was expecting them to be back on the floor working out on Friday.

“Both are progressing. We’ll list them both as not available for Saturday’s game,” Vaughn said during a virtual press conference. “Where that is probable or questionable. We’ll see after today’s workout, so they’ll get on the court again, and we’ll see if they can progress even more. Not certain to play on Saturday.”

Simmons and Warren were both hurt in the Jan. 26 loss to the Detroit Pistons. Simmons left the game in the third quarter of that game, which was the second of a back-to-back.

Vaughn did say that Simmons underwent an MRI, but that it didn’t show anything different from ones in the past. This is the second time this season that Simmons has missed an extended period of time after playing in back-to-back games.

However, Vaughn didn’t outwardly appear overly concerned about the situation.

“Just cautious in our approach,” Vaughn said. “Just at the end of the day, always talking about having guys healthy at the end of the year. You know, Ben did experience some soreness and so we want to make sure that soreness and swelling is out of there as he gets ready to get back on the court.”

The Nets will face the Wizards on Saturday at home after an ugly loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday at TD Garden. The blowout was one of Brooklyn’s worst performances of the year and they’re quickly looking to put it behind them.

“That combination of us not making shots, them getting off to a hot start just wasn’t a day for us,” Vaughn said. “And then overall, the energy like I talked about looking back on it, they definitely had a quicker step to every ball, rebounds all of the above. So we assess as a group, more so along the lines of Nick (Claxton), I won’t show this to the group. We’ll move on. I addressed it after the game, but we’ll look forward to Washington.”