Ben back in the frame

BEN Simmons’ All-Star aspirations have been reawakened by a shocking knee injury to New York star Kristaps Porzingis.

Moments after another silky Simmons performance in a 115-102 76ers win over Washington, his teammate Joel Embiid labelled Simmons the obvious choice for elevation.

Already smarting after several snubs for the Eastern Conference team, Simmons will have to wait until tomorrow on the choice of replacement.

But All-Star choice Embiid made it clear Simmons should be in after an initial snub then having to withstand being ignored again when All-Star inclusion John Wall injured his knee.

Knicks medical staff confirmed brilliant Knights fan favourite Porzingis had torn his ACL after toppling to the ground after a dunk on Milwaukee Star Giannis Antetokounmpou

“Ben Simmons, of course Ben Simmons,’’ Philadelphia star Embiid said. “I hope they don’t do the same bulls--- [as they did] with the last player. It would be great for me to have another teammate [in the team].

“They told me I have to dance in front of everybody, it would be good to have Ben Simmons dancing next to me.

“I went through a lot of injuries so I feel bad for him. I wish him a speedy recovery and I feel bad for him.”

Simmons responded on twitter with a laughter emoji after being overlooked for Detroit Piston Andre Drummond last week. Drummond is having a brilliant season and was next in line with NBA coaches in AllStar voting, but Simmons must be a strong contender to be the next cab off the rank.