Things just won't go right for the Philadelphia 76ers and their rookies.
The Sixers announced Friday night that No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons has a fracture in his right foot. This comes just days before the Sixers play their first preseason game and are expected to debut Joel Embiid for the first time in two years. He too has been sidelined with complications from a broken foot over the past couple seasons.
No word yet on an expected timetable for Simmons. From the team:
Philadelphia 76ers forward Ben Simmons rolled his right ankle during the final scrimmage of the team's 2016 Training Camp at Stockton University earlier today.
After receiving an X-ray and MRI of the foot and ankle, the images were reviewed by Sixers Head Physician Dr. Christopher Dodson and Sixers Chief Medical Officer and Co-Chief of Sports Medicine Orthopedics at New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center Dr. Jonathan Glashow.
It was determined that Simmons suffered a fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone of his right foot.
Further medical evaluation and treatment options are being considered at this time and additional updates will be provided when appropriate.
Simmons has been on the radar of NBA executives as the next big thing for a couple of years. The 6-foot-10 point forward out of Australia, who played one season at LSU before declaring for the draft his season, has been highly anticipated as a franchise-changing player.
When the Sixers finally won the lottery this year, there was no doubt about them taking Simmons as their next franchise player and pairing him with Embiid and the young core including Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel and Dario Saric.
For the Sixers, their rookies can't seem to be healthy for them. They drafted Nerlens Noel despite him coming back from a torn ACL at Kentucky. He missed his entire first season in the NBA and then made his rookie debut in his second season under contract. The next year, they took Embiid despite his foot injuries, believing the potential of him was too much to pass up should he finally become healthy. He hasn't played in his first two years under contract but is expected to be healthy enough to play this season and right away.
Jahlil Okafor last season was able to start the season but suffered a knee injury after 53 games played. Simmons was going to be part of an exciting rookie trio of Simmons, Embiid and Saric. Timothe Luwawu is also a rookie for them, but it's unknown if he's going to play much right away.
