SIMMONS SELECTED TO THIRD STRAIGHT ALL-STAR GAME
The NBA announced today that Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers was named an Eastern Conference reserve for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta. It’s Simmons’ third consecutive All-Star Game selection after also being named a reserve for last year’s game in Chicago. Simmons is the 16th 76er ever to earn three All-Star nods.
In his fourth NBA season, Simmons holds averages of 15.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.9 assists (ninth in the NBA, fourth in the East) and 1.7 steals per game (sixth in the NBA, fourth in the East). He and All-Star starter Nikola Jokić are the only two NBA players with such averages on the season. Simmons, who is shooting better than 55-percent from the field for the third straight season, is 11th in the NBA with a .572 mark.
Simmons has scored 20-or-more points five times over his last 12 games as he’s averaged 19.7 points on .623 shooting, while tallying 7.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists per contest. The stretch includes Simmons’ career-high 42-point outing against Utah on Feb. 15 when the fourth-year man finished the game shooting 15-26 from the field and 12-13 from the free-throw line while adding nine rebounds, 12 assists, one steal and one block in 38 minutes. He was the first 76er to tally 49-9-12 in a game since Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain on March 18, 1968.
The Australia native is one of nine NBA players to post at least three triple-doubles this season. He’s one of five players in the East with at least 200 assists, and the only player with more than Simmons’ 206 is Atlanta’s Trae Young. Simmons is seeking to average 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the fourth straight season to begin his career. The only other 76er to post such averages in a season was Chamberlain, who did so twice.
Simmons joins Joel Embiid, who was named an All-Star starter last week, as 76ers’ 2021 All-Stars. The duo is the sixth pair of 76ers teammates ever named to three consecutive All-Star Games, joining Julius Erving and Moses Malone, Erving and Doug Collins, Hal Greer and Wilt Chamberlain, Dolph Schayes and Paul Seymour and Schayes and Larry Costello.
Embiid and Simmons will be entered into the 2021 NBA All-Star Draft, set to be televised on TNT on Thursday, March 4 at 8 p.m. ET. The Lakers’ LeBron James and Nets’ Kevin Durant will draft the rosters from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference. 76ers Head Coach Doc Rivers will serve as the head coach for Team Durant. Rivers is the 76ers’ first All-Star Game head coach since Larry Brown in 2001 and will coach an All-Star team for the third time in his 22-season career.
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