Philadelphia 76ers General Manager Elton Brand announced today that the team and Ben Simmons have agreed to a contract extension. The new contract extends Simmons through the 2024-25 campaign.
“Ben Simmons is an important piece of our core and he is one of the NBA’s most dynamic and talented young players,” Brand said. “It was a priority for our organization that we finalize a contract extension with Ben this summer. He was Rookie of the Year in his first season, an All-Star in his second and we expect him to continue grow and succeed for seasons to come. Ben positively impacts the game in so many ways and we look forward to continuing our championship pursuits with him as one of our leaders.”
This past season, Simmons averaged career highs in points (16.9) and rebounds (8.8) to go along with 7.7 (sixth in the NBA) assists and 1.4 steals per game en route to his first career All-Star Game selection. Russell Westbrook was the only other player in the league, other than Simmons, to hold such averages during in 2018-19. The second-year pro also posted 10 triple-doubles, the third-most in the league, as well as a career-high 42 double-doubles.
📍Philadelphia, PA
The journey continues.@BenSimmons25 | #HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/Shr78HY7Tx
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) July 16, 2019
For his career, Simmons has appeared in 160 games (all starts) over two seasons with Philadelphia, posting 16.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 1.6 steals in 33.9 minutes per game. Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson is the only other player in NBA history to total as many points, rebounds and assists as Simmons has through his first two seasons. Further, Simmons has posted 600-or-more assists in both of his NBA campaigns, making him the eighth player in league history to notch at least 600 assists in each of his first two seasons in the league. Simmons posted his 20th career triple-double in his 129th career game, making him the second-fastest player to reach 20, behind only Robertson who did so in 45 games. His 22 career triple-doubles are tied for the sixth-most among active NBA players.
Simmons has helped lead the 76ers to consecutive 50-plus win seasons for the first time since doing so in seven straight from 1979-86, when the team featured such Hall of Famers as Julius Erving and Maurice Cheeks. Philadelphia has reached the second round of the NBA Playoffs in each of the last two postseasons, marking the first time the team has done so since 1999-2001, including an appearance in the 2001 NBA Finals.
Originally selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Simmons played one collegiate season at LSU. There, the Melbourne, Australia native averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game en route to a First Team All-SEC selection and SEC Freshman of the Year honors.
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