Michael C. Wright
Multiple Authors
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama captured the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award on Monday night, setting the 7-foot-4 phenom on a path he predicted for himself as a rookie.
Just before fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert won DPOY for the fourth time at the end of Wembanyama’s rookie season in 2024, the then-20-year old said in French that Gobert’s days of winning the award were numbered.
“I know that Rudy has a very good chance of winning it this year, and it would be deserved,” Wembanyama said. “Let him win it now, because after that, it’s no longer his turn.”
Wembanyama becomes the youngest DPOY winner at 22 years old. He’s also San Antonio’s first DPOY winner since former Spurs star Kawhi Leonard captured the award in back-to-back seasons (2014-15 and 2015-16), a trend Wembanyama hopes to reignite, perhaps with even more consecutive victories.
It took a year longer than Wembanyama expected to win his first DPOY due to ineligibility for awards last season after he missed 36 games, the majority of which stemmed from a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. Now, it appears it’s Wembanyama’s time to start bringing in some hardware.
Wembanyama is also a finalist for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic.
“Everything that [he’s] achieved so far has been earned and never given,” said teammate Keldon Johnson, a finalist for NBA Sixth Man of the Year. “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever been around. He takes his craft very seriously and I feel like this is just a small token of what’s to come for Victor. He’s a special player on the court and an even more special person off the court.”
Wembanyama led the NBA in blocks (197) for the second-consecutive season in addition to logging 66 steals as the defensive anchor for a Spurs team that finished with the league’s second-best defensive rating (110.4). Wembanyama ranked fourth in rebounding (11.5 per game) and second behind Jokic in defensive rebounding (9.5 per game).
“Vic’s a lot different than a typical defender,” teammate Stephon Castle said. “Most of the time when somebody wins Defensive Player of the Year it’s like more team defense and obviously, you have to be a great defender as well. But I feel like for Vic, he could’ve won it on any team in the league.”
Wembanyama logged two blocks Sunday in his playoff debut against the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland’s shooters finished scoreless on 11 attempts when Wembanyama was the contesting defender, according to ESPN Research.
“He deters people from even shooting the ball,” Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox said. “You talk about guys that change shots. He literally negates guys even shooting the ball. They’ll see him in there and dribble the ball out or kick out. He changes the whole dynamic of your defense, and he changes the dynamic of other team’s offense.”
Wembanyama finished second behind Gobert in DPOY voting as a rookie, the only other season he was eligible.
When asked after his final game of the regular season whether he’d be surprised if he didn’t win the award unanimously, Wembanyama didn’t hesitate.
“Yes, I would,” he said.
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