Victor Wembanyama came to the NBA with enormous expectations and responded with one of the best rookie campaigns the league has ever seen.
Wembanyama was named NBA Rookie of the Year on Monday, earning all 99 first-place votes. Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, came in second with 98 second-place votes. Last season's No. 2 pick, Charlotte's Brandon Miller, came in third.
Wembanyama becomes the sixth unanimous Rookie of the Year in the last 40 years, joining Ralph Sampson (1984), David Robinson (1990), Blake Griffin (2011), Damian Lillard (2013) and Karl-Anthony Towns (2016). He also joins the Spurs' two other No. 1 picks, Robinson and Tim Duncan (1998), as recipients of the award.
“My goals were always to help my team the best I could and get better as the year went on,” Wembanyama said from San Antonio on TNT after the award was announced on the NBA Playoffs pregame show. chain. “I knew that to do this I had to be individually good on the court and dominant. So it was a huge thing for me and a very important thing to achieve. It's always been very important and I'm glad it's finally official.”
In 71 games this season, Wembanyama averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game. The last player to average 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks in a single season was Shaquille O'Neal, who did so in his MVP season in 1999-2000.
Wembanyama became the second rookie in NBA history to lead the league in blocks (since blocks were officially recorded as a statistic in 1973-74), joining Manute Bol, who accomplished the feat in 1985-86. Wembanyama is the first rookie to record 250 blocks in a season since Alonzo Mourning and O'Neal did it in 1992-93. The 4.5 blocks per game Wembanyama averaged after the All-Star break were the most of any player after the break since Dikembe Mutombo in 1994.
His average of 4.81 steals and blocks per game is the most “actions” of any player in a single season since Ben Wallace did it in 2001-02, the first year he won Defensive Player of the Year. .
Wembanyama is one of three finalists for Defensive Player of the Year along with Minnesota's Rudy Gobert and Miami's Bam Adebayo. Due to the positionless nature of the All-Defensive team, Wembanyama could end up being the first rookie to make the All-Defense first team later this week.
Earlier this season, Wembanyama joked to French reporters that Gobert should win Defensive Player of the Year this year, but then it wouldn't be his turn.
On Monday, he said he wants to win awards like that, including eventually MVP, because it's often a good barometer of team success.
“The most important thing for me is to always win,” Wembanyama told ESPN. “You know, winning the chip is clearly what I want to do. But those individual awards say a lot about the path a player takes throughout their career to reach those heights. They're important to me and I'm dedicated to winning some.” “.
As much as he impressed on the defensive end, Wembanyama's offense moved faster than many anticipated. With 128 triples, he became the first player in NBA history with 250 blocks and 100 triples in the same season.
He averaged 0.72 points per minute this season, the most in a season for any rookie since Michael Jordan (minimum 1,000 minutes).
Wembanyama also recorded two triple-doubles: one with assists and one with blocks. On January 10, he scored 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists against the Detroit Pistons. A little over a month later, on February 12, he had 27 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocks against the Toronto Raptors.
Just 11 days after that, Wembanyama recorded a 5×5 against the Los Angeles Lakers when he finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 blocks and 5 steals, becoming the youngest player to record a 5×5 in NBA history.
In an overtime performance against the New York Knicks on March 29, Wembanyama had 40 points and 20 rebounds in his highest-scoring game of the season.
Since blocks became an official statistic, the only other players to have had a 40-point, 20-rebound game, a 5-on-5 game, and a 10-block game in their career are Hakeem Olajuwon and Anthony Davis.
Despite all of Wembanyama's accomplishments, San Antonio finished with the same record as a season ago (22-60) and needed seven wins in its final 11 games to get there.
Spurs are still a young team and while no one thought their record wouldn't improve, Wembanyama sees a long-term vision.
“At no point did I think I wasn't in the best situation. I wasn't in the best place,” Wembanyama said on the final day of the season. “Of course, I wish we were in the playoffs and I wish we didn't lose 60 games, of course.
“But as difficult as it is today, I know it's long-term. I trust my teammates 100 percent and I trust the project. So, really my confidence… was never shaken at any point.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
