NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers continued their rebuilding process by selecting LSU forward Ben Simmons with the first pick in the NBA draft on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
Simmons had been the projected top pick of this year’s draft even before he played a college game. He has been on the radar for this year’s draft since moving to the United States in 2013 to attend Florida’s Montverde Academy.
Simmons did not work out with the 76ers until Tuesday. That session in front of new president of basketball operations and ownership convinced them to take the Australia native, whose father grew up in the Bronx before starting a 13-year professional career there.
Philadelphia had not had the first overall pick since selecting Allen Iverson in 1996.
In his lone season at LSU, Simmons averaged 19.2 points and 11.8 rebounds while posting 23 double-doubles, the most among players from major conference.
Duke forward Brandon Ingram was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the second pick. Ingram averaged 17.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in his lone season with the Blue Devils.
Ingram made 41 percent of his 3-point attempts.
After Ingram and Simmons were selected, Boston used the No. 3 pick on California forward Jaylen Brown. The Celtics had obtained the pick from Brooklyn in the 2013 Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce trade.
Brown averaged 14.6 points and 5.4 rebounds in his lone season with California. He reached double figures in 27 games and was the third-most prolific freshman scorer in school history.
With the fourth pick, the Suns selected Bosnian forward Dragan Bender, who averaged 14.4 points and 10.4 rebounds in 25 games for Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Minnesota had the fifth pick and used it on Providence guard Kris Dunn. Dunn was a two-time Big East Player of the year and defensive player of the year. He averaged 16.4 points, 6.2 assists as a junior last season while becoming the first Friar to register 1,000 points, 500 assists, 400 rebounds and 200 steals.
New Orleans selected Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield with the sixth pick. Hield ranked second in the nation in scoring at 25 points was the most prolific 3-pointer shooter in the NCAA by averaging 3.97 per game.
Denver held the seventh pick which it obtained from New York in the 2011 blockbuster for Carmelo Anthony and picking from that position for the second straight season, the Denver Nuggets selected Kentucky guard Jamal Murray.
Murray became the latest Kentucky freshman to be selected in the first round after averaging 20 points and shooting 45.4 percent. He made 40.8 percent of his 3-pointers and other than Hield was considered the draft’s best perimeter shooter.
Sacramento selected Washington forward Marquese Chriss, who averaged 13.8 points and his athleticism made him attractive, but instead of using it with Sacramento, he will reportedly be traded to Phoenix in a deal for the Nos. 13 and 28 picks.
Toronto, coming off the best season in team history, used the ninth pick on Utah center Jakob Poeltl with a pick obtained from the New York Knicks in 2013 for Andrea Bargnani. Poeltl averaged 17.2 points and 9.1 rebounds and will join a frontcourt that includes big man Jonas Valaciunas.
Milwaukee rounded out the top 10 by forward Thon Maker, who was born in Sudan before escaping the country’s civil war. Maker spent the last two years playing for a Prep School in Canada was the MVP of his prep league.
With the 11th pick, the Orlando Magic took Gonzaga forward Domantas Sabonis before the Utah Jazz took Baylor forward Taurean Prince at 12 and the Phoenix Suns took Greek center Georgios Papagiannis at 13. Michigan State swingman Denzel Valentine went 14th to the Chicago Bulls and the Nuggets took Spanish forward Juan Herman Gomez at 15.
The next five picks had French forward Guerschon Yabusele going to the Boston Celtics, Vanderbilt guard Wade Baldwin IV going to the Memphis Grizzlies, Marquette forward Henry Ellensen going to the Detroit Pistons, Florida State forward Malik Beasley to the Nuggets and Michigan guard Caris Levert to the Indiana Pacers.