Philadelphia 76ers' Ben Simmons Named All-NBA Third Team
On Wednesday afternoon, the NBA announced its All-NBA team. While no member of the Philadelphia 76ers snagged a first or second team accolade, Sixers' third-year guard/forward Ben Simmons has been third team All-NBA for the 2019-2020 season.
It's been quite a challenging year for Simmons, who dealt with a handful of injury concerns beginning early on in the year. After appearing in over 78 games in each of the last two seasons, Simmons managed to miss 16 games during the 2019-2020 NBA season.
While his first shoulder injury early on in the year didn't keep him off the court for long, his lower-back injury in February issued the Sixers a real scare. Simmons missed a handful of games leading up to the COVID-19 suspension. Had the league stayed in play, Simmons' might've been on pace to miss the rest of the regular season.
Since the NBA took a few months off due to the pandemic, though, the third-year All-Star managed to make it back in time for the season's restart. Unfortunately, Simmons' return didn't last very long. By the third seeding game, Simmons was out with another injury -- this time being his knee. After electing to receive surgery, Simmons had to leave the bubble, effectively ending his 2019-2020 campaign.
Despite the serious setbacks, Simmons had quite a solid season. Not only was he named an All-Star for the second season in a row, but his 119 steals earned him an opportunity to be called a first team All-Defensive player. Now, Simmons can add third team All-NBA to his list of accolades this season as well.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_