Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves has been unanimously named National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year on Monday for the league's 2015-16 season.

"This is such a landmark in my career," Towns said, "but it's not the last one."

The 2015 NBA Draft top overall pick received all 130 first-place votes from a group of broadcasters and sportswriters in the United States and Canada. The former University of Kentucky Wildcats standout became the fifth and recent unanimous choice since Ralph Sampson (1984), David Robinson (1990), Blake Griffin (2011) and Damian Lillard (2013).

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Towns, 20, easily out-voted fellow first-year players Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks, who finished second having 117 second-place votes, and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, who came up third with 45 overall points.

The Piscataway, New Jersey native ranks eighth in the league in field goal percentage and rebounds. In the just-ended season, Towns averaged 18.1 points, 10.7 boards, and 1.7 blocked shots, helping the Glen Taylor-owned basketball squad win 13 more games than the previous season.

Minnesota is the first team with back-to-back winners of the award since Bob McAdoo (1973) and Ernie DiGregorio (1974) with the Buffalo Braves. Timberwolves Canadian guard Andrew Wiggins also bagged the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy last season.

Listed 7-footer and 244 pounds, Towns is the only rookie in the NBA to start all 82 games. He was named Western Conference rookie of the month in all six months the award was handed out.

"This is not something you win by yourself," Towns said. "This is a team award. This is something done by everyone coming together."

According to ESPN, Kia Motors America donated a new Sorento CUV to the Minnesota Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on Towns' behalf. Towns said the donation was made to honor the late Flip Saunders, who was the Timberwolves' coach when Towns was drafted. Saunders died of cancer at age 60 last October.

TagsNBA 2016, rookie of the year, Minnesota Timberwolves, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Kristaps Porziņģis, Nikola Jokic