Members of LeBron James‘ All-Star team have been dropping like flies ever since the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ star and Stephen Curry selected their squads for the league’s midwinter showcase. So far, three members of the squad have had to drop out due to injuries, meaning three players have be selected as replacements.
None of those players have been Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons, which is unfortunate, because he’s been fantastic this season. But All-Star replacements have been decided by slotting in the highest vote getters in the coaches’ vote who did not make it into the game, which is why Paul George, Goran Dragic, and Kemba Walker were selected to fill in for DeMarcus Cousins, Kevin Love, and Kristaps Porzingis, respectively.
Simmons has deserved an All-Star spot, but he’s just one player in a loaded pool of potential reserves. As we learned on Friday night, though, he’s not happy that his potential spot has gone to Dragic and Walker. Keith Pompey of Philly.com reported that Simmons spoke about his All-Star snub on Friday night, which led to the rookie going off on his lack of inclusion.
.@BenSimmons25 on getting passed over as an #AllStar replacement 3 times: “I don’t really know what an all-star is anymore. I mean if it was about win-lose, you picked Dragic obviously and you pick Kemba, whose team is 7 wins under us. It is what it is, but my stats don’t lie.”
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) February 9, 2018
Again, Simmons has been outstanding this year, and while you can certainly argue he deserved to get in over fellow Eastern Conference standouts Dragic and Walker, it’s not like those two getting in over him was egregious or anything.
Simmons certainly is not off-base by being upset, but he can take solace knowing that he’s getting to the All-Star Game soon, whether it’s because he’s a really talented basketball player who is going to be a force for years to come, or because someone else on James’ team can’t make it to the game.
