Simmons moves up, Embiid stays put in latest All-Star voting results

By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor

The NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles is just over a month away, but voting ends soon. It's not surprising that the two best and most popular Sixers players are getting a lot of votes, despite only playing a combined 97 games. Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid has been a large part of why the Sixers have bounced back from a rough month of December to win five of their last six games. They continue to maintain themselves in All-Star voting as well. In the latest vote returns, Embiid remains the third highest vote-getter among front court players while Simmons has jumped up a spot to third in the back court. 

The Second #NBAAllStar Voting Returns for Eastern Conference players!

VOTE NOW: https://t.co/UjbrNUQ7Vw pic.twitter.com/pd1IaxfinV

— 2018 NBA All-Star (@NBAAllStar) January 11, 2018

Per NBA.com, after all votes are tallied, players will be ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes.  Each player’s score will be calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes.  The five players (two guards and three frontcourt players) with the best score in each conference will be named NBA All-Star Game starters.  Fan voting will serve as the tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score.

Simmons, 21, is averaging an impressive 16.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game, shooting 51 percent from the floor. He leads all rookies in rebounds, assists, steals (1.92), double-doubles (18) and triple-doubles (4) while ranking second among first-year players in scoring, behind only Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz. Simmons' 7.5 assists average is good for sixth best in the NBA and his 1.92 steals is good for seventh.  Ben's four triple-doubles are third best in the NBA, behind just Russell Westbrook (14) and LeBron James (7).

"I want to be an All-Star honestly so if I'm an All-Star, I'd feel like rookie of the year," Simmons told reporters prior to the Sixers game against the Celtics in London on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Embiid is averaging 23.8 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, shooting 48.9 percent from the floor. He ranks fifth in the NBA in blocks and 13th in points. Joel ranks second among centers in scoring and blocks and seventh in rebounds. He's also averaging a career-high in minutes (31.2).

"I want to win, and if winning helps me get to the All-Star Game, good, but I want to win and I want to get to the playoffs," Embiid said to the media during Wednesday's practice.

Fans can visit NBA.com to vote while also having the ability to Tweet votes with the hashtag #NBAVote (one player per tweet). Same goes for Facebook. Voting concludes on Monday, January 15 at 11:59 p.m. EST.