It feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it? Back in 2018, the NBA was a different world. LeBron was still a Cavalier, "The Process" in Philadelphia actually looked like it was working, and we were all witnessing one of the most heated, petty, and statistically ridiculous award races in the history of the league.
I'm talking, of course, about the 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year battle.
The race between Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell wasn't just about basketball. It was a philosophical war. It was about what the word "rookie" actually means. It involved Adidas-branded hoodies, passive-aggressive post-game quotes, and enough "Triple-Double" alerts to break your phone. Honestly, looking back at it now from 2026, the whole thing feels even more surreal given how different the career arcs of these two players turned out to be.
The "Not a Rookie" Drama
Let’s address the elephant in the room first. The biggest sticking point for anyone wearing a Utah Jazz jersey that year was a technicality. Ben Simmons was drafted first overall in 2016. He sat out his entire first year with a foot injury. By the time he stepped on the court for the 2017-18 season, he’d already had a full year of NBA checks, NBA training, and NBA film rooms.
Donovan Mitchell, on the other hand, was fresh out of Louisville.
The "Spida" supporters weren't quiet about it. Mitchell famously showed up to a game wearing a hoodie that had the literal dictionary definition of a rookie printed on it: "An athlete playing his or her first season as a member of a professional sports team."
💡 You might also like: El Salvador partido de hoy: Why La Selecta is at a Critical Turning Point
It was a brilliant bit of marketing by Adidas, and it sparked a firestorm. People were genuinely angry. Was it fair? The NBA rules were—and still are—clear: if you haven't played a single second in a regular-season game, you're a rookie when you finally do. Blake Griffin had won the award under the same circumstances in 2011. But for some reason, the Simmons-Mitchell beef felt personal.
The Statistical Monster vs. The Pure Scorer
If you ignore the "redshirt" debate for a second, the on-court production was staggering. We weren't just choosing between two good players; we were choosing between two different types of greatness.
Ben Simmons was a 6-foot-10 point guard who played like a hybrid of Magic Johnson and LeBron James. He ended the season averaging 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 8.2 assists. Those are video game numbers for a first-year player. He was the engine for a 76ers team that won 52 games and finished as the 3rd seed in the East. He recorded 12 triple-doubles that year. 12! Only Oscar Robertson had more as a rookie.
Then you had Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell wasn't supposed to be this good, this fast. Drafted 13th, he was expected to be a solid rotation piece. Instead, he became the primary scoring option for a Jazz team that had just lost Gordon Hayward. He averaged 20.5 points and broke the rookie record for most three-pointers made in a season (187). He wasn't just a scorer, though—he led the Jazz to 48 wins in a brutal Western Conference.
📖 Related: Meaning of Grand Slam: Why We Use It for Tennis, Baseball, and Breakfast
The comparison was basically: do you prefer the guy who does everything but shoot, or the guy who can't be stopped from scoring?
Why the Voters Went with Simmons
When the final tallies came in, it wasn't even as close as the internet made it out to be. Ben Simmons ran away with the 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year award. He received 90 out of 110 first-place votes.
Why the landslide?
Voters generally lean toward "historic." What Simmons did—averaging a near triple-double while playing elite defense on the other end—was something we hadn't seen in decades. While Mitchell’s 20 points per game were incredible, we see high-scoring guards fairly often. We don't often see a 6-10 teenager (well, 21-year-old) controlling every facet of a 50-win team.
The 76ers also ended the season on a 16-game winning streak. Simmons was the catalyst for that. He proved he could lead a winning culture, which carried a lot of weight with the media members holding the ballots.
👉 See also: NFL Week 5 2025 Point Spreads: What Most People Get Wrong
The Forgotten Third Man: Jayson Tatum
It’s kind of funny—or maybe just "standard NBA"—that we spent all year arguing about Ben and Donovan while Jayson Tatum was quietly putting together a masterpiece in Boston.
Tatum finished third in the voting, and honestly, if the playoffs counted toward the award (they don't), he might have won the whole thing. He was efficient, polished, and looked like a 10-year vet from day one. He averaged 13.9 points on nearly 43% shooting from three. While the Simmons vs. Mitchell war raged on Twitter, Tatum was busy leading the Celtics to within one game of the NBA Finals.
The 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year Legacy
So, what did we actually learn from that season?
First off, the "redshirt" rule isn't going anywhere. The NBA likes having its stars enter the league with as much hype as possible, even if they have to wait a year.
Secondly, the award is a snapshot in time. If you look at where these players are today, the "winner" of the 2018 class is a complicated question. Donovan Mitchell became a perennial All-Star and a scoring machine for Cleveland. Jayson Tatum is an NBA Champion and the face of the Celtics. Ben Simmons... well, his journey has been a lot more turbulent, defined more by injuries and "what-ifs" than the Hall of Fame trajectory he started on in 2018.
Key Takeaways from the 2017-18 Race:
- Definitions Matter: The NBA considers you a rookie as long as you haven't played a game, regardless of when you were drafted.
- Winning Counts: Both Simmons and Mitchell led their teams to the playoffs, which separated them from high-stat rookies on bad teams.
- Versatility vs. Scoring: Simmons won because his all-around impact (rebounds, assists, defense) was viewed as more valuable than Mitchell's pure scoring.
If you’re looking to settle a bar argument about this, the facts are on Simmons' side for the award itself, but the "true rookie" sentiment will probably never die in Utah.
If you want to dive deeper into how rookie seasons predict future success, your best bet is to look at Advanced Catch-All Metrics like Win Shares or VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) from that era. In 2018, Simmons led all rookies in almost every advanced category, which is usually the "secret sauce" for how the professional media makes their final decision. Check out the historical archives on Basketball-Reference to see how that 2018 class stacks up against the legends of the 90s—you might be surprised at just how efficient that group was.