Where Did Ben Simmons Place in 2022 NBA All-Star Voting?

In the past, Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons worked hard on getting league-wide recognition as a star in the NBA. Not only did he consistently campaign for himself being the best defender in the league, but Simmons also worked hard on making the All-Star game.

When Simmons came into the NBA as the first-overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft, the young star sat out for a year due to a foot injury. When he finally debuted in 2017-2018, Simmons earned Rookie of the Year honors.

The following season, he established himself as an NBA All-Star for the first time. After earning his first trip to the big game in 2019, Simmons made it once again in 2020. And although he earned his third All-Star nod last season, he couldn't play in the game as he was ruled out due to COVID-19 contact tracing.

After making the Eastern Conference All-Star team three seasons in a row, Simmons will break the trend this year as his absence from the Sixers prevented him from earning the votes to get him into the big game.

Ever since this past summer, Simmons has wished for a trade to another franchise. However, the Sixers haven't budged on their expensive asking price for the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up. Therefore, he remains a member of the 76ers.

Simmons has yet to appear on the court for the Sixers this year as they are now more than halfway through the season. Despite not playing a single second this year, Simmons still earned some attention from All-Star voters.

The Results

According to the NBA, Simmons placed 25th in the Eastern Conference backcourt voting with a weighted score of 20.25.

Most of Simmons' voting came from the fans as he earned a little over 46,000 votes, which ranked 24th.

As expected, Simmons received no recognition from the media, but he shockingly received two votes from players. Since the voting is undisclosed, it's unclear which players supported Simmons in the All-Star voting.

Although Simmons received some love from players and fans, he wasn't the top guard out of Philadelphia in the All-Star voting. Tyrese Maxey, who replaced Simmons in Philadelphia's starting lineup this season, ranked three spots ahead of Simmons with six player votes and over 45,000 fan votes.

In front of both Simmons and Maxey was Sixers starting shooting guard Seth Curry. With eight player votes and nearly 215,000 fan votes, Curry placed 15th overall. 

The Sixers won't have an All-Star representative outside of Joel Embiid, who received his fifth nod on Thursday. But considering how the voting panned out, Curry and Maxey could work themselves into the conversation next season. As for Simmons, his future remains unclear currently.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.