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Australian Ben Simmons has been officially named rookie of the year after a stunning debut season with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Simmons is the first Australian and just the third player born outside of the USA to win the award with the others being Spain’s Pau Gasol in 2001-02 and Canada’s Andrew Wiggins in 2014-15.
The 76ers guard becomes just the eighth player to earn the rookie of the year award on a team winning more than 50 games and the first since Tim Duncan in 1997-98.
On top of that, Simmons recorded a staggering 12 triple-doubles throughout the season, leaving him with the second most by a rookie in NBA history.
While Simmons couldn’t inspire the 76ers through the playoffs, his efforts in the youthful squad came to fruition as the side went from a record of just 28-54 in 2016-17, to a record of 52-30 in last season.
They went on to beat the Miami Heat 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs, but failed at the hands of the Boston Celtics in the conference semi-finals by the same score.
The Australian ended the season having played 81 games, averaging 33.7 minutes for 15.8 points, 8.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds.
Beating out competition from Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, the only factor which was ever going to stop Simmons was Mitchell’s claim that he technically wasn’t a rookie.
Given Simmons was drafted ahead of the 2016-17 season, but didn’t play a game through injury, Mitchell’s claim was dismissed, although he did his utmost to drum up more interest.
Donovan Mitchell's ride to the NBA Awards omg lol
? @utahjazz pic.twitter.com/H1oyYVileX
— SB Nation NBA (@SBNationNBA) June 25, 2018
However, there was a show of respect between the duo before Simmons walked up on stage.
Respect between the rooks ?#NBAAwards pic.twitter.com/4cEtuejLdW
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 26, 2018
The rest of the NBA’s end-of-season awards will be announced across the course of the presentation ceremony.