PHILADELPHIA -- It finally happened. After more than two seasons and in his 172nd NBA game, Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons made a 3-pointer.

The moment Philadelphia fans have been waiting for came with 8:20 to play in the first quarter of Wednesday's game at the Wells Fargo Center against the New York Knicks. Simmons caught a swing pass from forward Furkan Korkmaz in the corner in front of the 76ers bench, squared up to the basket and knocked down the shot. He then turned and calmly ran back down court while the fans went wild.

"It felt good," Simmons said following Philadelphia's 109-104 win, when asked how it felt to finally drain a 3. "I've been repping it. It just feels good."

It had been almost four years -- since Nov. 30, 2015, when Simmons was a freshman at LSU playing against the College of Charleston -- since he made a 3-pointer in a competitive game.

It was the first time this season that Simmons had attempted a 3-pointer after an offseason full of speculation that 3s could become a bigger part of his game. Video of him shooting 3s in pickup games surfaced this offseason, and he later made his first trey of any kind in a Sixers uniform during a preseason game against the Guangzhou Long-Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association.

"It's not that I don't need to do it," Simmons said during the preseason, when asked if he must add a 3-point shot to his game. "I'm confident in saying I'm not a great shooter. I'm getting better, though."

Besides the act of making a 3, the shot stood out for several other reasons. It was the first time in Simmons' career that he had attempted a corner 3-pointer, as well as the first time he had attempted one of a catch-and-shoot variety, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

It also was just the third of Simmons' 17 3-point attempts in regular-season games (he missed one during the playoffs) that came within the flow of regular offense, with both of the others occurring last season -- on Feb. 10 against the Los Angeles Lakers and Feb. 25 against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Simmons' shooting has become a topic of discussion thanks to the amount he has accomplished in his time in the NBA. The No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA draft, Simmons was the 2018 Rookie of the Year (he missed his first full season with a broken foot) and was an All-Star last season.

This past summer, the Sixers agreed to a five-year, $170 million max contract extension with Simmons to keep him paired with star center Joel Embiid for years to come.