Victor Wembanyama has achieved his first award in the NBA, and it doesn’t seem like it will be his last. The French player of the San Antonio Spurs has been unanimously voted Rookie of the Year, ahead of Chet Holmgren (Oklahoma City Thunder) and Brandon Miller (Charlotte Hornets). “My goal was always to help the team the best I could, to improve as the year progressed, and I knew that to do that I had to be individually good and dominant on the field,” declared the French extraterrestrial after receiving the award.
The 20-year-old center was chosen number 1 in the Draft by the Spurs, after his beginnings in France. In 2019, and at just 15 years old, he debuted with Nanterre 92 in the EuroCup, becoming the second youngest player to play a match in that competition. In the French first division he debuted in 2020 and just a year later he won his first award, the award for the best young player in the league.
In 2021 he ended up at Asvel Villeurbane, where he played only one season, enough time to once again win the award for best young player in the French league, after averaging 8.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
But his great season came in his last team in Europe, Metropolitans 92, also in his native country. Wemby led the league in points, rebounds and blocks, adding, in December 2022, four consecutive games with more than 30 points . In addition, the Spurs player was selected as the youngest MVP in history in the French All-Star.
The Rookie of the Year craziness arrived in the United States. Nobody since LeBron James raised such expectations and franchises without playoff options let themselves go to accumulate the maximum number of defeats possible, to have more options to take the French extraterrestrial. The Spurs received pick 1 and did not have the slightest doubt, they selected Wembanyama to revitalize a project that was in decline.
The only downside to his arrival in the NBA was whether he could handle playing 82 games, one every two days, with his peculiar physique: 2.24 meters, but extremely thin (95 kilos). Not only has Wemby been able to play consistently (72 games) but he has also exceeded expectations, as he has averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 blocks per game in a team weak, second to last in the West.
He is capable of blocking without jumping, shooting a three-pointer from the corner or traveling the court in seconds. A player never seen before who is already among the best and who will mark an era in the best league in the world. In fact, stars like Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic have surrendered to him. “I don’t see anyone like Wemby in the NBA. He is unique. He is going to create his own story, you can try to compare, but he is going to be different from anyone else,” said the Suns player. The Serbian, for his part, commented: “He is very young, he plays hard and is not afraid of anything. He makes mistakes, but that’s normal. I am convinced that he is going to change this sport.”
The number 1 of the last Draft, in his first year, has become the first player in history to complete a course with more than 1,500 points, 250 blocks and 100 triples and the youngest to achieve a game with 20 points and 20 rebounds. Likewise, he is the rookie with the best points and rebounds since Blake Griffin (22.5 and 12.1) in 2011, or the rookie with the highest block average in a season since David Robinson (3.9) in 1990.
The Spurs center, the franchise’s third player to win the Rookie of the Year, after David Robinson, in 1990, and Tim Duncan, in 1998, has swept the vote, as he has won unanimously, with all the first votes. He is the sixth rookie to do so in league history, following Ralph Sampson (1983-84), David Robinson (1989-90), Blake Griffin (2010-11), Damian Lillard (2012-13) and Karl -Anthony Towns (2015-16).
But Wemby wants more. The extraterrestrial is up for double awards, since he is also nominated for Defender of the Year, an award that is presented tonight. However, favoritism falls on his compatriot, Rudy Gobert, who has already won this award three times. Whether he achieves it or not, we are at the beginning of a legend that will change the history of the NBA.
