Ben Simmons passed Magic Johnson’s rookie triple-double total, adding to his brilliant season

Ben Simmons is a mad scientist’s experiment. If he were born in a lab in an unethical test of basketball’s extremes, would anyone truly be surprised? He wasn’t, but you can surely see how that description fits a player who just passed Magic Johnson’s rookie season triple-double total. As it stands, Simmons is second under Oscar Robertson for triple-doubles in a rookie season.

It’s quite possible no NBA player has ever had the exact combination of Simmons’ size, athleticism, ball handling, and vision. (LeBron James is obviously the best comparison, if perhaps an inch shorter.) If Simmons could shoot, he’d be a step or two away from becoming the best player in the league. Yet the Philadelphia 76ers rookie doesn’t even attempt shots from beyond 17 feet.

It hasn’t mattered. On Thursday against the New York Knicks, Simmons tallied a 13-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double as a 6’10 starting point guard. This showing came just days after a 10-point, 13-rebound, 10-assist performance against the Indiana Pacers, too. With that, Simmons has now recorded eight triple-doubles this season, surpassing Johnson’s seven in his first year.

Those aren’t spectacular lines, at least from the scoring perspective, but Simmons doesn’t need to force anything on a team that has won five of their last eight games. And to make it even more impressive, consider Simmons’ recent play.

Simmons obviously had a huge advantage coming into this year: his foot injury last season prevented him from playing, but helped him understand the NBA. Given that, it’s probably no surprise there’s no rookie wall for the 21-year-old, just a star that’s continuing to rise.

While Simmons’ scoring has decreased just a bit — 16.4 points per game to 15.3 points — the rest of his game is thriving since the arbitrary mid-season break that is all-star weekend. His assists are up from 7.3 per game to 9.0, and his efficiency has spiked, too. Perhaps thanks to his slightly lower shot selection, Simmons’ True Shooting Percentage is 60.8 percent in the 11 games since the all-star break.

Simmons scores through sheer force of will, and that embodies one of Philadelphia’s biggest strengths: their ability to alter styles seamlessly. With Joel Embiid on the block, the 76ers have by far the league’s best post player and can emulate an old-school ‘90s offense that pounds it inside to him. But off turnovers or long rebounds, Philadelphia will be down the court in a moment, often led by Simmons, who is just so difficult to stop in those situations. He’s a huge reason why the 76ers can have the league’s fifth-fastest tempo plus a dominant big man who leads the league with 10 post touches per game.

It’s either Simmons or Utah’s Donovan Mitchell who will win this award, and the two fanbases have alternated saying things like, “Imagine not voting for (insert their rookie here) for Rookie of the Year.” If that describes you, chill. Both candidates have legitimate cases.

We have slightly less than a month left in this regular season, and I believe using all the time allotted is the only way to determine who will win this year’s award. Despite what fans are clamoring about, this award pretty much looks like it can’t be decided until we see full bodies of work from both.

This is a helluva race, and Simmons is a special player with or without a jump shot. (Though he’ll need some semblance of one in due time. Philadelphia certainly believes that will happen.) And while it’s wild he doesn’t have one, that’s exactly what a mad scientist would do — give him an impossible combination of skills, with one catch.

So far, the experiment is working even better than could have been expected.