Well god damn, Ben Simmons is having some sort of rookie year.
The Philadelphia 76ers jet is putting up inhuman numbers in his first full on-court year for the team, but today his stats reached a point that’ll see him etched in the NBA history books for a long, long time.
During today’s game against the Indiana Pacers, Simmons registered 10 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists on the stat sheet. That represents his seventh triple-double of the season, and officially ties him for second-most triple-doubles in a rookie year in NBA history. In that regard, he now sits alongside a little-known battler from the 80s by the name of Magic Johnson.
Johnson achieved the mark in his rookie year of 1979-80, and now Simmons sits alongside him in the record books thanks to his efforts in season 2017-18.
‘Course it’s unlikely that Simmons will catch the all-time mark of 26 rookie year triple-doubles set by Oscar Robertson in 1960-61, but then again there’s a fair argument to be made that there should be two levels of NBA record keeping: “NBA records,” and “things Oscar Robertson did.”
Ben Simmons with Oscar and Magic?
That’s some impressive company. pic.twitter.com/E63YSUT40Y
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 14, 2018
Simmons’ efforts today didn’t help his side much, with the Sixers going down to the Pacers 101-98. However his efforts across the year, combined with the outrageous play of Joel Embiid, has seen Philadelphia catapult themselves into playoff contention.
Philly currently sits sixth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 36-30, with 22 games remaining in their regular season schedule.
Rookie of the Year’s gonna be a tough race to win, but historic numbers like that certainly don’t hurt Big Ben’s case, that’s for dang sure.
