‘Our Fans Are So Silent, So I Can’t Imagine Anything Happening’

Ben Simmons better be ready to be mercilessly booed in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Simmons is expected to be on the Brooklyn Nets bench at Wells Fargo Center when his new team meets the 76ers, but he won’t play in the highly anticipated showdown between the two teams.

That likely won’t stop the home crowd from taunting Simmons, who was traded last month in the blockbuster James Harden deal. Philadelphia fans, after all, once booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus.

“Our fans are so silent, so I can’t imagine anything happening,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers cracked following his team’s 121-106 win over the Chicago Bulls Monday night. The Sixers (40-24) are 5-0 with Harden in the lineup and are the No. 2 seed in the East.

The last time Simmons played in an NBA game was Game 7 of the Sixers’ second-round series against the Atlanta Hawks on June 20, when he famously passed up an open dunk opportunity. He has been persona non grata in the City of Brotherly Love ever since.

Rivers was asked if Simmons should get a video tribute during Thurdsay’s game.

“That’s a loaded question,” Rivers said.

“Ben did a lot of good things here, it didn’t end well, right, just like marriages and a lot of other things didn’t end well. But Ben did a lot of good things here.”

Simmons has yet to play this season due to what the Nets call “return to competition reconditioning/back soreness,” but is expected to join the Nets in Charlotte for their game Tuesday night and then be with them Thursday.

Nets GM Sean Marks said last week that Simmons’ debut is still several weeks away due to a back ailment.

“Unfortunately, his back stiffness has delayed his ability to get on the court with his teammates, so he’s been rehabbing this last sort of week to 10 days,” Marks said on the YES Network. “And then now he’ll progress throughout this week with some individual workouts and then hopefully by the end of next week he’s getting more into the team environment and then we can really ramp up and start him getting into game shape and so forth.

“Although there’s no real timetable, we’ve got to take it day by day and see how he responds, and hopefully the sooner, the better. We’ve got to get this group together and get minutes together on the court.”

Brooklyn (32-33), which got Kevin Durant back from an MCL sprain for Sunday’s loss in Boston, is currently the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference with 17 games remaining. They are 5 1/2 games back of the No. 6 seed. The teams seeded 7-10 will compete in the play-in tournament.