Ben Simmons missed the Nets’ 118-104 loss to the Bucks on Tuesday night with a sore left knee and has been ruled out of the tail end of the back-to-back, Wednesday at the Knicks.
Coach Jacque Vaughn declined to give any meaningful details on the former All-Star’s strengthening process or a timeline for his return, but he did reiterate that the Nets still haven’t had any discussions about shutting Simmons down for the rest of the season.
“Still getting the strengthening back in order and I would say won’t play [Tuesday], won’t play [Wednesday]. That’s kind of what I’ve got for you,” said Vaughn, adding Simmons isn’t slated for an MRI exam or other imaging.
“It’s just us trying to take advantage of where we are in the calendar, coming off of [the] All-Star [break], using the two practices that we have and getting feedback that way and just continue, we want to get to a position where we have no reoccurrence of swelling or anything of that nature.”
When the Nets first shelved Simmons last Friday, he said he’d be reevaluated in a week.
At that point, Vaughn said there had been no talks of shutting Simmons down and reiterated there still haven’t been.
“No, that’s a zero on that one. Go zero. Think I went zero last time, going zero again, no discussion,” Vaughn said.
Still, when pressed on exactly what Simmons was doing and what the next step of the process would be, the coach demurred.
“I don’t want to get into markers and what he’s doing on a daily basis I just kind of want to put it all in the bucket of strengthening,” he said. “That’s what it is at the end of the day, whether that’s consisting of weight-room stuff, whether that is conditioning stuff, whether that is basketball stuff, it’s all built around him trying to strengthen and get back to playing.”
Edmond Sumner was scratched for what the Nets called personal reasons.
The point guard later tweeted that his wife had given birth.
“The most excited and nervous I’ve ever been. Praying God keeps my wife and baby safe and healthy as she goes through this process of delivering our baby,” Sumner tweeted, followed by a thankful prayer emoji.
Sumner’s status for the game Friday in Boston is unclear.
“We’ll see,” Vaughn said. “Nothing of alert. But we’ll see how everything goes with him and if he’ll be back.”
Yuta Watanabe was a late scratch with back soreness. Vaughn wasn’t certain, but said he conceivably could play Wednesday at the Knicks.
“I hope so. But I’m not sure,” Watanabe told The Post.
Giannis Antetokuonmpo scored a game-high 33 points for Milwaukee after he missed the team’s home win over the Suns on Sunday with a right quad contusion.
He had also been dealing with a sore right wrist recently. Wesley Matthews was out for the Bucks.
The Nets’ free fall dropped them to sixth in the Eastern Conference, a game behind the Knicks.
They face their cross-river rivals Wednesday at the Garden, with the red-hot Knicks on a six-game winning streak.