Victor Wembanyama was the #1 overall pick in last year's draft and was one of the most hyped-up prospects in a very long time. Although the Spurs have one of the worst records in the NBA, Wembanyama has been playing some very impressive basketball lately.
Stats:
This season Wembanyama is averaging an impressive:
20.6 Points
10.1 Rebounds
3.3 Assists
3.3 Blocks
1.3 Steals
46.6% of shots made
Improvement:
The first time that Wemby played against other NBA players was in the summer league. In his summer league debut, Wemby made only 2 out of his 13 shot attempts, not making a great first impression. Luckily in his second summer league game, he played much better scoring 27 Points on 64% shooting.
Wembanyama has been playing very well the whole time he has been in the NBA, but he has also shown a lot of improvement throughout the season so far.
In his first 5 games in the NBA, he averaged:
21.6 Points
8 Rebounds
1.6 Assists
2.2 Blocks
1.4 Steals
These are very good stats but he has gotten even better since.
In his most recent 5 games he has averaged:
24 Points
10 Rebounds
5 Assists
4.8 Blocks
2.6 Steals
These are very impressive stats and he probably could have been an all-star if he had played this well all season, unfortunately, he started playing better after all-star voting.
Defensive Player of the Year?
Wembanyama is playing some great defense this year averaging 3.3 Blocks and 1.3 Steals.
These stats are better than Last year's Defense Player of the Year, Jaren Jackson Jr. who averaged 3 blocks, and 1 steal per game. I would say Wembanyama is the current favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year, especially since he is still getting better averaging a crazy 4.8 Blocks and 2.6 Steals in his last 5 games.
Rookie of the year?
At the beginning of the season, there was a big question of who would win Rookie of the Year, Victor Wembanyama or Chet Holmgren? However, that debate has pretty much ended, as Wembanyama is averaging better stats in pretty much every category, so I would definitely say he should win it.
No player in NBA history has ever won Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. In fact, no Rookie has ever even won Defensive Player of the Year. Wembnayama has a chance to win both.
Spurs:
Even with a great player like Wembanyama, the Spurs are still one of the worst teams in the league, with a terrible record of 11 wins and 46 losses. If they want to completely change up their roster in the future, at least now they have Wembanyama to build around.
Update 5/21/2024:
Victor Wembanyama won Rookie of the Year. Rudy Gobert won Defensive Player of the Year.