Within hours of the Sixers’ No. 1 pick Ben Simmons going down with a foot injury that might derail his rookie season, the rumors about it being weight related started. Simmons needed to add weight coming it of LSU and had reportedly put on more than 30 pounds since the draft. Was that too much too quickly? Both players and major trainers have said yes.
Ben Simmons puts on 33 lbs, now a broken foot. Related? For sure. Athletes can't add that much weight that quickly w/out impacting movement.
— Tim S. Grover (@ATTACKATHLETICS) September 30, 2016
The Sixers have moved to shoot this down, saying this was an acute fracture — something that happened suddenly, from stepping on a teammate’s foot Friday during a scrimage — and was not stress related, as would happen with weight issues.
More importantly, the severity of the break means surgery, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.
Ben Simmons update: Sixers and doctors involved believe rookie suffered an "acute injury" unrelated to weight and plan for surgery next week
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 1, 2016
Surgery will mean Simmons likely will be out until around the first of the year — and maybe much longer — and you can be sure the Sixers will be cautious bringing him back (we saw that with Joel Embiid).
This is just deflating to a Sixers franchise that has had terrible luck with injuries the past couple of years. And yes, some people around the league quietly will say this is karma for all the tanking.
