Evelyn CarterBen Simmons confirmed in late August 2026 that he spent the entire 2025-26 NBA season away from professional basketball — not by choice, but because nerve impingement in his lower back had left him unable to walk without pain. "I couldn't walk around," the 30-year-old told Men's Health, describing shooting pain radiating from his spine through his glute and down his leg. The revelation reframed his long absence in the public eye, shifting it from a narrative about professional reluctance to one about a serious spinal condition. It also spotlights a medical journey that tens of millions of Americans face each year without an elite team of physicians around them.
From the Nets to the Sidelines: What Happened to Simmons' Back
Simmons' back problems first surfaced publicly during his Brooklyn Nets tenure, when he was diagnosed with a herniated disc and subsequent nerve impingement — a condition in which a bulging or ruptured disc presses directly against one of the nerve roots exiting the spinal column. Over the following seasons, despite intermittent stints with the Nets and later the Los Angeles Clippers, the nerve compression produced what clinicians call radiculopathy: pain, tingling, and weakness that travel along the full path of the affected nerve rather than staying localized in the back.
By the 2025-26 season, the cumulative damage had reached a point where Simmons could no longer safely compete. He chose to sit out the full year, committing to intensive rehabilitation with spine specialists and physical therapists. The decision paid off. By mid-2026, Simmons was healthy enough to personally finance his way into the Australian national basketball team's training camp — a public signal that his body had crossed a meaningful threshold. A comeback in the 2026-27 NBA season now appears realistic.
His is a story about what happens when spinal nerve damage goes unresolved over years. It is also, inadvertently, a blueprint for what earlier specialist intervention might have prevented.
What Nerve Impingement Actually Is — and Why It Escalates
Most adults who experience back pain at some point in their lives are dealing with muscle strain or ligament irritation. These injuries typically resolve within two to four weeks with rest, gentle movement, and over-the-counter anti-inflammatories. Nerve impingement is categorically different, and its most important distinguishing feature is also its most commonly missed warning sign: the pain moves.
When a herniated disc presses against a lumbar nerve root, it does not create just local discomfort. It sends electrical distress signals along the entire length of the nerve — from the lower back through the buttock, down the back of the thigh, and sometimes all the way to the foot. This is the condition most people know as sciatica, though sciatica is technically a symptom rather than a diagnosis. The nerve compression itself can produce burning sensations, numbness, tingling, and, in more advanced cases, measurable muscle weakness in the affected leg.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health (NINDS, NIH.gov), back pain accompanied by radiating nerve symptoms warrants prompt medical evaluation — particularly when symptoms persist beyond four weeks, worsen rather than improve with rest, or are accompanied by leg weakness or any changes in bladder or bowel control.
The four-week threshold matters because nerve tissue is more susceptible to permanent damage than muscle tissue. Compressed nerves that are decompressed within weeks typically recover fully. Nerves that remain compressed for months may sustain lasting deficits, including residual weakness and chronic pain that persist even after the underlying disc problem is treated.
ExpertZoom's earlier coverage of sports medicine trends in the 2026 NBA season noted that team physicians have significantly raised the bar for intervening earlier in spine injuries — a standard of care that ordinary patients rarely receive by default.
The Mental Health Component That Gets Left Out
What made Simmons' situation more complex than a straightforward orthopedic case was the psychological dimension he has spoken about openly. During his year away, he described needing to "find himself again" — language that reflects the documented psychiatric burden of chronic pain. Research published in the past decade consistently shows that patients with persistent back pain lasting more than 12 weeks are two to four times more likely to develop clinical depression or generalized anxiety than pain-free individuals.
The mechanism is bidirectional. Chronic pain drives psychological distress. Psychological distress, in turn, lowers the pain threshold and amplifies the perception of physical symptoms. For patients without access to coordinated multidisciplinary care, the loop can persist for years without being addressed.
Health consultants and pain specialists increasingly emphasize that treating the structural injury — the disc, the nerve — without simultaneously assessing and supporting mental health leads to slower physical recovery and a higher rate of relapse. The patient who understands why they are in pain, what the realistic recovery timeline is, and what the treatment plan entails generally recovers faster than one who receives only procedural care.
A Scenario That Applies to Millions of Americans
Here is the concrete situation worth thinking through. Consider a 41-year-old teacher in Phoenix who has had lower back pain for five weeks following an afternoon of moving classroom furniture. She assumed it was muscular and took ibuprofen for two weeks. But over the past 12 days, she has noticed a persistent burning sensation running from her left hip down the back of her thigh — and this past Monday morning, she had difficulty flexing her left foot when walking from the parking lot to her classroom.
This symptom evolution — local back pain that has migrated into unilateral leg pain, now accompanied by new motor weakness — is a textbook progression of lumbar nerve root compression at L4-L5 or L5-S1, the two most common levels. In her case, the four-week threshold for seeking specialist evaluation has already passed. The appearance of foot weakness compresses the timeline further: motor deficits that emerge alongside radiculopathy are considered a red flag, and most spine specialists consider them grounds for expedited imaging and evaluation within days rather than weeks.
If she sees a spine physician within the next five to seven days and an MRI confirms a herniated disc with nerve compression:
- Conservative pathway: six to eight weeks of structured physical therapy, a short course of oral corticosteroids or a targeted epidural steroid injection to reduce nerve inflammation, followed by progressive strengthening. Full recovery without surgery: achievable in three to five months for most patients seen at this stage.
- If she waits six more weeks: the window for conservative management narrows sharply. Nerve compression sustained for 14 or more weeks without intervention statistically increases the probability of residual numbness, weakness, or chronic pain even after the disc is addressed.
Ben Simmons' multi-year absence from professional sport was not solely caused by the original herniation. Multiple sports medicine analysts who have publicly reviewed his injury history note that incomplete early treatment and repeated attempts to return before full nerve decompression likely compounded the original damage. The difference between a four-month recovery and a three-year absence often turns on whether the first specialist appointment happens at week four or week sixteen.
When to Stop Waiting and Make the Call
The practical threshold, drawn from current clinical guidance and reinforced by Simmons' experience:
Seek a specialist consultation within two weeks if back pain is accompanied by any of these:
- Pain, burning, or tingling that travels below the knee
- New weakness in a leg or foot (foot drop is a neurological urgency — go the same week)
- Symptoms that worsen with sitting or coughing but ease when lying flat
- Any loss of bladder or bowel control (go to an emergency room immediately)
The right first specialist for radiating back pain is typically an orthopedic spine physician or a neurologist, either of whom can order imaging and determine whether nerve compression is the source. If compression is confirmed, a pain management specialist may join the care team to manage the inflammatory response and coordinate rehabilitation.
Telehealth works here. A specialist consultation via video call can take a full symptom history and generate imaging orders before any in-person visit — cutting weeks off the diagnostic timeline for patients in areas with limited specialist access.
Ben Simmons appears to be heading for his comeback. The journey he has made public offers something useful for the millions of people who will experience similar back and nerve symptoms this year: the window for early intervention is real, it is time-limited, and a single specialist appointment made at the right moment can determine whether a painful condition becomes a short chapter or a long one.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. If you are experiencing symptoms of nerve impingement, consult a licensed healthcare professional promptly.
