After having been ruled out for the play-in tournament earlier this week, time is running out for Ben Simmons to return to action for the Nets, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Sports+ link). Simmons is suffering from a herniated L-4 disc in his lower spine and received an epidural last month to treat the injury. He’s starting to feel better, and there’s hope he’ll avoid surgery, but it appears increasing unlikely he’ll be able to return for the playoffs. “It looks like he’s doing a little bit better,” a league source told Lewis. “You know, it’s just a timing thing. The problem is the season is running out. But he’s doing [more]. He’s starting to do a little bit more movement, AlterG (an anti-gravity treadmill), stuff like that. So … we’ve got to be patient with it. I don’t think he’ll need a procedure, though. But you’ve just got to be patient with it.”