Stephen A.: Ben Simmons having back surgery does NOT change my perspective on him! | First Take

Stephen A. Smith discusses the news that Ben Simmons will need back surgery and expected to be out 3-4 months.
#ESPN #NBA

[Johnsons]

Stephen A made it clear that he wasn’t questioning the legitimacy of the back injury by spending 5 minutes asking questions

[PACNYY]

Everyone knows that he injured his back while stretching on the bench.

[MrMrsslack]

I had to have the same procedure on my neck and back. I can tell you this if he took a physical the doctors would’ve seen this in the X-rays and would have advised him of his options back then. The pain caused by these herniated discs can permeate throughout the arms and legs and leave you locked up at times or may be mild and dissipate from time to time. If it was the former and he had these shooting pains he would’ve been in physical therapy, chiropractic sessions, massage therapist and under pain management. There is no way a team would’ve been planning on him playing this year unless he experienced a dramatic improvement of pain symptoms and increased movement in that area of discomfort. I do feel that either he hid this because he wanted to get traded and knew a bad back would veto any trade out of Philly and is now deciding to have the procedure so everyone can get off of his case about him not playing. Brooklyn can’t be naïve or ignorant to this and if so shame on them for not doing their due diligence on this. In my opinion he needs to rehabilitate his psyche as well as his back because I manage just fine dealing with the pain to work my 9-5 he gets paid 20 million… he could’ve at least tried.

[michaeld]

Every time Stephen talks about Ben Simmons he spends 10 minutes questioning his excuses then always says "I'm not going to question the legitimacy of his claims..." LOL

[PeanutButterAndJellyBros]

I honestly don't see him playing anymore. Even if he does play next season in certain games, I see him retiring after next season.

[FratterKnox]

It’s not necessarily about his back injury, it’s about his actions leading up to it that calls its legitimacy into question. Ben’s mental health “issues” was an obvious ploy to get out of playing in Philly. Despite claiming mental health problems he avoided seeking help or treatment until his money was on the line. That just doesn’t align with someone who has acknowledged a mental issue and has labeled it a problem. As a result, he’s now proved that he’s someone who’s willing to fabricate health issues as a scapegoat. That said, I disagree with SAS regarding back injuries. They can occur under strange circumstances and don’t necessarily require extreme stress. However, ultimately this controversy is due to Ben’s dishonest actions in Philly. Had that not occurred I doubt anyone would be questioning his back issues today.

[NinersGiantsNation]

We seriously need to know how he got hurt when he hasn’t played in a year

[adamjonsson]

SAS: I don't ask personal questions
Also SAS: Kyrie must take the vaccine or he is betraying his team

[jasonau]

SAS spent weeks insinuating Ben wasn’t really hurt.

[likecandy]

when Simmons skipped his entire rookie year due to "foot" injury,
did anybody, if not Ben himself, ever addressed how he got hurt?
I mean, even during "rehab" period, ppl were questioning why
he wouldn't show much, if not any, of his "rehab" progress.

[longsalad]

People will use this news to say “oh y’all were wrong for trashing him!” But won’t look at the whole picture, or push the excuses off to the side. Can’t do that!

[htownblack]

A lot of Ben Simmons detractors owe him an apology....but we know it ain't happening...

[pharroekemet]

Stephen a is pushing the Owners Arguments so hard.

[cloj]

I get all the critisism by Stephen A up until the dude got into the Nets and made it clear he had a bad back. It's clear SAS doesn't know what he is talking about. You do not need to be an athlete to herniate a disc. You can literally just be picking up the groceries from the ground and move at an angle that puts a specific pressure on your cartilage and boom, its herniated. Literally 2% of all people will herniate their disc at some point, its not rare.

[supag]

I had a herniated disc and eventually surgery. In my case I was misdiagnosed at first with a bulging disc and told to do physio and message therapy and take pain killers that mess you up. Later after months of doing that and not feeling better I was sent to a pain centre for epidural steroid injections. And when that didn’t work I had to wait to see a back specialist as there are only a few of them in a city that only saw new patients one day a week. Before seeing a back specialist I had to go and get my MRI scans and my x-ray scans to bring them with me where the specialist looked at them showed me that I had a herniated disc in my L5-S1. Once the Jelly comes out of the disc you can’t put it back and it sits there in your spine irritating your nerves. I had a choice to continue message therapy or do the surgery which doesn’t just happen overnite. Going through this, I know the pain and frustration with doctors and therapy and how slow the process is. Even after the surgery your body is never the same and high impact movements like running and jumping are no more. I sympathize with anyone who has back and nerve pain no matter how old/young you are. Ben will never be the same again athletically.

[nikiedmonds]

Since the Simmons camp lies so much I want to know what type of surgery he's having done...I work in the Ortho spine specialty and people with acute herniated discs can barely walk or even sit for short periods and most end up in the ED the pain is so bad... let alone practicing, walking around, dunking, sitting on the sideline getting up cheering for your team, hopping on and off the team bus....he most likely has a chronic herniated disc which flares up off and on...how big is it? Is is causing narrowing of the spinal canal? Does it compress a nerve? These are questions we may not ever get the answer to...most top level professional athletes get surgery just to preserve their athletic career when in a real world clinic we wouldn't recommend spine surgery for their particular type of injury...he could be getting a simple laser procedure, or needle based decompression or minimally invasive partial discectomy...I don't trust Simmons camp...they went from mental health to back injury to mental health causing the back pain...it wouldn't be surprising for them to exaggerate the extent of the spinal procedure

[ericbrumfield]

He didnt have to be playing in games to hurt his back. It coulda happened in the gym. Working out, practice. Anything..just because he wasn't playing games doesn't mean he couldn't get hurt.

[KushNoLove]

No one goes under the knife to prove a point, certainly not your back. I could buy into it if he was getting a knee cleaned out or something along those lines, but not this. Everyone was wrong, end of story. I don’t expect guys like SAS or Chris Broussard or Reggie Miller to apologize it is what it is

[RAD]

I clearly remember how Isaiah Thomas was treated by Boston after his injury. Ben Simmons has to do what he has to do for himself and his family because Stephen A, or the Nets will not be paying his bills.

[newrecruit]

Dude was questioning how does he injure his back from doing nothing? Calling him pathetic etc and yet doesn’t wanna change his view. Typical egomaniac.