BATON ROUGE, La.- LSU All-America point-forward Ben Simmons realized his dream Thursday night when National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver called his name at the Barclays Center as the first pick of the 2016 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Simmons became the second LSU men’s basketball player picked No. 1 in the NBA draft joining Shaquille O’Neal who was picked first in the 1992 draft by the Orlando Magic.
Simmons is the eighth LSU athlete to be pick No. 1 in any of the major professional leagues in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball.