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Ben Simmons says he’ll play this season

Ben Simmons avoided giving a timeline for his return Wednesday night. However, the 76ers' first overall draft pick shot down a report that there were discussions about keeping him sidelined the entire season.

"There was a lot of talk," Simmons said before the team's opener against Oklahoma City. "Somebody put that out there, but I'll come back when I'm ready."

The 6-foot-10, 250-pound point forward suffered a Jones fracture in his right foot when he stepped on Shawn Long's foot on Sept.  30, the final day of training camp. Simmons said he had a screw inserted in his foot.

Sources have said Simmons will miss three months with the injury. On Friday, coach Brett Brown confirmed that the 20-year-old would return in January, but he tried to walk back his statement hours later.

Simmons was asked repeatedly about his projected return date. He was evasive every time.

"There's no timetable on getting healthy," he said. "I'm working every day to get back. As soon as they can tell me I can play, I'll get back out there."

The Australian conceded that it was mentally tough to deal with the injury at first. The first person he reached out to was Golden State swingman Kevin Durant, who suffered the same injury two seasons ago. Durant told Simmons to get advice from a lot of people.

"It's good to reach out to people like that that have gone through it," he said. "But it's an injury that hopefully I will be back  [from] soon."

Simmons said he has been at the training facility every day and intends to stay around the Sixers throughout his rehabilitation process.

"I'm just ready to get back," he said. "For me, I'm looking forward to rehabbing every day and getting stronger. As long as I can do that, I think I will be fine."

Anthem switch

Recording artist Sevyn Streeter was supposed to sing the national anthem on Wednesday. However, she said was denied minutes before being scheduled to sing by Sixers representatives because she was wearing a "We Matter" jersey.

The team released a statement that read: "The Philadelphia 76ers organization encourages meaningful actions to drive social change. We use our games to bring people together, to build trust and to strengthen our communities. As we move from symbolic gestures to action, we will continue to leverage our platform to positively impact our community."