Sixers Rookie Ben Simmons Won’t Play This Season Due To Lingering Foot Injury

Ben Simmons won’t be able to finish his rookie season in the NBA.

Sixers’ 2016 No. 1 Overall Pick Ben Simmons To Miss Rest of Season with Foot Injury

The 20-year-old Australian forward, whom the Philadelphia 76ers drafted as the No. 1 overall pick out of LSU last summer, has been ruled out for the remainder of this season after tests revealed his broken right foot has not fully healed.

Sixers general manager Bryan Colangelo made the announcement Friday morning, saying Simmons is “heartbroken” over the news and that the rookie “wants to play.”

Colangelo told reporters that the 76ers, who have 26 games left this season, feel there is not enough time remaining for Simmons to train enough for game play.

“There was a desire to get him back on the court when healthy,” Colangelo stated in a press conference. “We’ve always anticipated that there would be an opportunity for him to play, hopefully this season. But there was always the outside chance that it didn’t happen because there wasn’t complete or full healing. We were not gonna put Ben Simmons in a situation where he was at risk for a re-fracture.”

The 6-foot-10, 240-pound Simmons fractures his foot in late September and underwent surgery in early October. He has not yet played in a regular-season game for Philadelphia.

ESPN’s Jeff Goodman (h/t ESPN.com’s Marc Stein) reported prior to the surgery that Simmons was expected to miss three months with a return date in December or January.

The youngster was the Sixers’ first No. 1 overall pick since Allen Iverson in 1996.

“We’re gonna try to get him ready as early as this summer,” Colangelo added of Simmons. “We’re gonna talk about putting him in a summer league situation where he can get some game experience, maybe play with some of the new draft picks and some of our young players, and get him ready for basketball next season.”

This is also the fifth consecutive year that a Sixers key player misses the entire regular season.

Colangelo also stated center and Rookie of the Year frontrunner Joel Embiid will miss at least four games due to a bruised left knee that has sidelined him for 11 of the last 12 games.

“All signs are he is progressing well,” Colangelo said.

Philadelphia is still six games out of eighth place in the East.

Simmons landed a shoe deal with Nike last summer.

NASHVILLE, TN – MARCH 11: Ben Simmons #25 of the LSU Tigers dribbles the ball during the game against the Tennessee Volunteers during the quarterfinals of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 11, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)