Leading NBA journalist Shams Charania described it as a “left knee contusion” sustained during Tuesday’s game.

Before Tuesday’s game he had not set foot on an NBA court since November 7.

The 27-year-old sparked the lowly Nets from the bench, dishing six assists in his first four minutes to open up a big first quarter lead over the Utah Jazz.

With Simmons pushing the pace and not missing a shot, Brooklyn never relinquished that advantage as they gave the Jazz a 147-114 lesson on home court.

The former All Star finished with 10 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in just 18 minutes, flirting with a triple double and perhaps reviving the club’s faint playoff pulse.

Simmons was applauded by fans as he left the court, but now they won’t be seeing him again for an indefinite period.

Nets coach Jacque Vaughn was full of praised after his comeback.

“Once he said he was ready to go, I had no qualms he was going to be able to push the pace for us and get back to the high energy, high octane pace he’s played with with this group.

“You see how he just impacts other people, he makes other dudes better. He likes doing that and when you get a guy who wants to do that on a nightly basis, it’s infectious.

“The ball movement tonight, he was the reason for it… you can’t ask for anything more, especially with the time he’s missed.”