Ben Simmons takes home NBA Rookie of the Year

Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers was named the 2017-18 NBA Rookie of the Year on Monday night.

Simmons is the third player in 76ers history to win the award, following in the footsteps of Allen Iverson in 1996-97, and Michael Carter-Williams in 2013-14.

The 21-year-old Australian took the league by storm after sitting out all of the 2016-17 season due to injury, averaging 15.8 points, 8.2 assists, and 8.1 rebounds in 81 games while shooting 54.5 percent from the floor.

Simmons was a leading force of the Sixers' surprising playoff run to the Eastern Conference semifinals, averaging 16.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game.

Simmons also became the first rookie since Magic Johnson in 1980 to record a postseason triple-double during Game 4 of the team's first-round series against the Miami Heat, joining the elite company of Johnson, Tom Gola, Jerry Lucas, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only rookies to record a triple-double in the playoffs.