Ben Simmons Recorded A Triple-Double Four Games Into His NBA Career

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Ben Simmons has arrived. After missing his first season in the NBA due to a foot injury, the wildly talented big man/point guard has looked fantastic to start his career. Sure, the Philadelphia 76ers started the season 0-3, but we’ve seen plenty of flashes that reminded everyone why Simmons was the most uniquely talented player to come into the league in years.

But on Monday night, Philadelphia got its first win, taking down the Detroit Pistons, 97-86. Joel Embiid was the Sixers’ leading scorer — he had 30 points and nine rebounds on 11-for-15 shooting in 28 minutes, which is an outstanding game — Simmons’ performance will be remembered for some time. By the time the clock hit 0:00, Simmons had registered the first triple-double of his career.

Simmons played 34 minutes and accrued 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting with 12 rebounds and 10 assists. You can check out the highlights here, pay special attention to how easy everything looks for someone who is four games into their career as a professional basketball player.

As some historical facts show us, players aren’t supposed to get triple-doubles this early in their career.

Of course, Simmons had a year to get used to life in the NBA, so it’s not like he went out there on day one and got put through the ringer. But still, he managed to get 21 points on 11 shot, set up his teammates all night thanks to court vision that could best be described as “prodigious,” and held his own on the boards against one of the best rebounders in the world, Andre Drummond.

The scariest part may be that Simmons is not a finished product yet — he still hasn’t shown that he can consistently hit jump shots, and he’s 0-for-2 from three through four games — so he could conceivably get better. But if not, Simmons has shown that he’s pretty close to unguardable, can get wherever he wants on the floor, easily throw passes most people can’t even think of attempting, and clean up on the glass. If that’s his ceiling, then you probably won’t find any Sixers fans who will be too upset.

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