Simmons has been the odds-on favourite to win Rookie of the Year this season since the opening night of the campaign.

The Australian-born 21-year-old has taken the league by storm and his unique size at the point guard has troubled many teams in the league.

His current stat-line matches up with some of the best players in the league, averaging 16.9 points, 8.4 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game.

In fact he leads all rookies in both rebounds and assists per outing and averages more steals too.

Simmons was drafted back in 2016 but missed his first season due to injury.

But he doesn't have this year's Rookie of the Year completely wrapped up yet with Tatum one of the biggest surprises of last year's draft.

When Gordon Hayward went down injured in the first game of the season, Brad Stevens turned to Tatum to hand him more minutes.

And the Duke graduate has excelled in his role on the wing, so much so that he is in the top four in three-point goal field percentage, ahead of the likes of Klay Thompson and Kyle Korver to name but a few.

And Hamilton, who won the NBA championship with Detroit in 2004 before having his jersey retired last year, believes it was an incredibly shrewd more by Celtics general manager Danny Ainge to downgrade his pack in the 2017 Draft to pick Tatum.

“I think I’m more impressed by Tatum than Simmons because when he came in everybody assumed he would have the impact of a guy like a LeBron James,” Hamilton told Express Sport.

“Expectation wise, I expect him to do what he has been doing. Tatum I was like ‘alright Danny Ainge gave up the No 1 pick’.

"He said that even if he had the No 1 pick he would have still picked the guy they chose at three and then when Tatum came out I was like ‘Oh my goodness, I think he was the No 1 pick in the draft’.

"With Hayward going out, it gave him an opportunity to come in and showcase his game.

“I think his upside is neck and neck with Ben Simmons.

“He’s a game changer, a franchise-changer type of guy and what he’s doing for the Celtics is amazing.”