Victor Wembanyama was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs #1 pick overall in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Widely known as Wemby, he has taken the league by storm. In his rookie season, he’s played 60 of a possible 68 games. He’s averaging 20.8 ppg and 10.4 rebounds a game. More impressively, he’s also averaging 3.5 apg, 3.5 bpg, and 1.3 spg, showing contributions on both sides of the floor. He played professionally in Europe as early as 2019 before he even made himself eligible for the NBA Draft. Two of the teams he played for were run by Spurs greats and fellow-countrymen Boris Diaw & Tony Parker. It’s crazy to think that, with 60 games already in, we’re talking about him arguably being the best defensive player in the game.
Victor Wembanyama’s shot blocking is elite.
According to StatMamba on X, Victor Wembanyama already has more career blocks than 81% of the NBA’s active players. Victor is 60 games into his NBA career, which says a lot about where the league is today. The league has averaged 112.5 ppg over the last 6 seasons. There are a precious few in this league that do take a personal pride in playing both ends of the floor. The San Antonio Spurs are fortunate the cornerstone of their organization takes advantage of his talents offensively and defensively.
Victor Wembayama statistically is a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year
According to ClutchPoints on X, Victor Wembanyama has more blocks & steals than any of the last 9 players in their DPOY-winning season at 283. The next closest is Jaren Jackson Jr of the Memphis Grizzlies at 254. There are still 14 games left in the season. To put that into context is those numbers would easily make Victor Wembanyama Defensive Player of the Year based on those standards.
Another impressive part of this statistic is Victor is 7 ft 4 inches. The ability to use that wingspan is obvious for blocking purposes. However, when it comes to the steals, it allows him to be a pest in the post as well as getting into the passing lanes. He can be a one-man fast break in those situations because of his handling ability.
Sometimes, these awards do look at a team’s record as part of the evaluation, and that may cause him to lose out to someone like the Minnesota Timberwolves Center, Rudy Gobert. He wasn’t too shy to say while Gobert deserves the award, next time won’t be the case.
Also Read: Wembanyama’s Truimph
Joseph Laguerre is a hardcore, born and raised New York sports fan. He is a Giants, Rangers, Yankees and long-suffering Knicks supporter. You can find him on X @JavaJoeSports. You can also find his writing portfolio on his Wix site. To keep up with all the latest in sports click HERE.