Aussie MP Feels For NBA Star Ben Simmons Who Was Snubbed for All-Star Selection

NBA and an Australian MP made unlikely bedfellows after a true sporting tragedy.

If you don't know already, the NBA All-Star Game is one of the biggest games in NBA where the competition's best are pitted against one another. 

There's a lot of this happening. (Yes, it's a High School Musical GIF.)

Up-and-coming Australian-born NBA star Ben Simmons, who plays for Philadephia 76ers, is regularly praised as one of the game's finest rookies, but was not chosen to play in this month's All-Star game.

NBA fan and Australian MP, Tim Watts, was dumbfounded that Simmons kept on being snubbed.

So, what does a politician do when he's mad about some injustice? He packages that outrage into a neat little rant and takes it all the way to Parliament, of course.

Since the team's announcement, some players are unable to play due to injuries (like Kristaps Porzingis) so fans were pretty sure that he would be picked to play this month's All-Star game.

Instead, Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker was chosen as Porzingis replacemen,t and Simmons was understandably a bit salty.

pic.twitter.com/xApxGCCgcF

— Ben Simmons (@BenSimmons25) February 8, 2018

Watts also heard the news and expressed his anger the only way we truly know how: Through a Simpsons reference.

The most important part of this whole sporting debacle (besides the obvious injustice) was probably the important message behind Watts' rant.

"The nine Australians who are currently flying the flag for our nation in the NBA include an Indigenous Australian, four children of immigrants and two refugees," Watts said to Parliament.

"Our representation in the NBA looks like modern Australia—a nation of migrants and the most successful multicultural nation [on] earth."

Too bloody right.

Photo: NBA