From the moment Victor Wembanyama was selected with the first pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, the countdown was on for when he would become the best player in the league. There wasn’t much of a roster around Wemby in his rookie season, and health issues limited him to just 46 games last year.
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That delayed his coronation, but it also allowed the Spurs to snag Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper with high lottery picks. This year, it’s all come together, as the French giant has played in 57 of 72 Spurs games while leading them to the second-best record in the league.
As long as Wemby plays in eight of the Spurs’ final 10 games this year, that won’t be an issue this time around. DPOY seems like a lock, but that’s petites pommes de terre. Wemby wants the MVP.
After last night’s 25-point road win over the Heat in which he posted a 26-point, 15-rebound, 4-assist, 5-block line while also making recent 83-point scorer Bam Adebayo absolutely miserable, Wemby argued why he deserves to be the league’s Most Valuable Player.
“I think right now, it is still reasonable that there is a debate,” he told The Athletic. “My goal is to make sure there’s no debate anymore at the end of the season. My first [reason] would be that defense is 50% of the game, and that is undervalued so far in the race, because I believe I’m the most impactful player defensively in the league.”
“Second argument would be that we almost swept OKC in the season, and we dominated them, three times with their real team and one time with more rotation players. My third argument would be that offense impact is not just points,” he added, making a solid point.
Wemby is clearly taking aim at defending MVP and current favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with his argument, so let’s break it down.
Defensively, he’s absolutely right. Nobody changes the way opposing offenses have to prepare the way he does, and though Shai is a good defender, Wemby leads the league in blocks by more than one per game, and the amount of shots he changes due to his wingspan and ability to close out shots is unparalleled in NBA history.
Luka Doncic has entered the MVP conversation due to his fantastic play and recent hot streak, but his defensive reputation is, let’s just say not good, and not even in the same universe as Wemby’s. The lanky Frenchman is also right about the way the Spurs and he have played head-to-head against the Thunder.
They won four out of five matchups this season, including knocking OKC out of the NBA Cup. They’re only three games back in the standings and will secure 60 wins on the season if they can just win six of their final 10 games. They also won three of four against the Lakers.
SGA and Luka average more points and assists per game, but Wemby also has a point about his offensive impact. Defenses collapse trying to keep him out of the paint, warping the court to open things for his teammates. He’s still extremely effective from the perimeter as well, though, meaning teams have to account for him wherever he is.
Currently, Shai is a heavy favorite to repeat as MVP. FanDuel has him at -900, while Luka is at +1000 and Wemby is +1200. Could that change with just 10 games to go? It certainly doesn’t hurt for Wemby to toot his own horn a bit, because narrative matters when it comes to MVP.
Shai won last year in part because Nikola Jokic already had three and there wasn’t much else to separate the two superstars. With Wemby looking for his first and the Spurs nipping at OKC’s heels, there’s still time for the tide to shift in this race.
If Wemby wants to post some big numbers in the final stretch, the opportunity is there. He gets Jokic and the Nuggets twice, but other than that, the Spurs won’t play a team currently in the top six in either conference. This race is far from over.
