Philadelphia 76ers: Ben Simmons wants your All-Star votes

Over the past three seasons, the Philadelphia 76ers have comfortably been able to count on having two All-Stars on their roster in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.

Technically, both of those players are still on the roster, much to the chagrin of pretty much everyone in the City of Brotherly Love, but fortunately or not, it would appear the team’s two All-Star streak will come to an end with a whimper, not a roar.

… unless Klutch Sports has anything to do about it.

That’s right, in a move that’s either an expert role or a severe oversight – you decide – Ben Simmons’ agency tweeted out a request for fans to retweet their post to help generate All-Star votes for a player who has yet to play a game in the NBA this season. Is that… allowed? Can BS become the first non-playing All-Star in NBA history? Needless to say, Philadelphia 76ers fans have opinions on the subject.

Simmons (probably) isn’t going to become an All-Star for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Can a player who isn’t capable of playing – either due to injury or personal choice – make the All-Star team? Yes. Kevin Durant was injured last season during the All-Star game and he was one of the game’s captains.

Can a player make an All-Star game without stepping foot on a basketball court? Theoretically, it’s possible but incredibly unlikely.

You see, from December 25 to January 22, fans can vote for who they would like to see in the game, either via social media or the NBA’s dedicated landing page, and their votes will be weighed 50 percent towards the final tally for All-Star consideration. Those votes, when tallied alongside the voting media – who weigh 25 percent – and the current players – again 25 percent – decide the “starting fives” for each conference, even if the teams ultimately get shuffled up via a vanity draft.

That, my friends, is the best path for Ben Simmons to make it to the All-Star game, as an absolutely dominant showing from the fans could offset zero votes from the media and only a few votes from players.

If Simmons doesn’t earn a starting spot, which he hasn’t up to this point in his career, his fate will fall on the coaches, who get to select three frontcourt players, two backcourt players, and two “wildcards” to fill out the benches, with 14 more players in total joining the starters.

Are there head coaches who value Simmons? Most definitely. Historically speaking, All-Star coaches have loved to have Simmons on their roster, as he’s such a unique option to fill out the bench, but will said coaches, many of them former players, give the nod to a player who has tested the very integrity of the association?

My guess is no.

Klutch Sports haven’t exactly been strangers about what they want to happen between Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers. It feels like a week hasn’t gone by where some anonymously sourced person has lamented how Simmons feels about the Sixers or opines a desire to play for a head coach like, say, Gregg Popovich or a team in California. Could this tweet have been a massive troll to generate articles like this very one? You know what, I think it probably was, and I guess I got got like the mark they were hoping for. Haha… Merry Christmas, Philadelphia 76ers fans.