SUMMARY
- Victor Wembanyama has the highest odds of winning the 2024 Rookie of the Year title.
- The 20-year-old also had an outstanding defensive year running second to Rudy Gobert for the DPOY title.
When you talk about rookies who will ultimately stand as one of the greatest players of all time, Victor Wembanyama cannot be excluded from the list. Before getting drafted as the No.1 overall pick, the 20-year-old attracted a lot of praise from players like LeBron James and Steph Curry. Victor did not fail to deliver one of the greatest rookie seasons ever, or possibly the best one we’ve ever seen. He stands second to none for the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year title.
this feeling >>> pic.twitter.com/ysiAPRJcRP
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) April 13, 2024
The San Antonio Spurs concluded their 2023-24 campaign as the 14th seed in the Western Conference. Despite it being a tremendously underwhelming season, the Spurs walked away knowing that Wembanyama is a future franchise player. Besides leading the rookie rankings, the center also led the league in blocks while ranking second to Rudy Gobert in the Defensive Player of the Year race.
Victor Wembanyama recalls his best defensive play
The Spurs rookie had a couple of incredible performances during the season and he almost recorded a couple of quadruple-doubles, an incredibly rare stat line. Victor Wembanyama has shown potential to become the greatest defensive player ever standing at 7’4” feet. The NBA has seen a couple of individuals as tall as him, but none of them have been able to match what he’s currently doing.
Wemby reflected on his incredible double block on the Houston Rockets’ Jabari Smith Jr. and explained how he was able to execute the play. He said, “At the very end of the game, I’m tired and I’m by myself basically running back. And if I slow down, [Jalen] Green is just going to go by me and get a layup or reverse layup. And if I run too fast I’m going to be under the basketball and too late to block Smith.”
He added, “So, it was a tough maneuver. You can see the momentum of the ball, it was hard to stop. So, it bounced off the rim. And the second one was just an emergency… All hustle.” His comments also clearly show his basketball IQ and ability to make quick decisions on the floor. Wemby once had an incredible game against the Denver Nuggets, when he recorded four blocks against Nikola Jokic and nine throughout the entire game.
Victor Wembanyama struggles to execute an entire defensive play at the rim
Not every freak athlete like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or Victor Wembanyama starts their career perfectly. James had trouble shooting the ball while Durant couldn’t go left against defenders. Similarly, Wembanyama claims he struggles to execute defensive plays at the rim after obtaining blocks.
He said, “Honestly, sometimes when I get a block, like a big effort block… I’m not always keeping the play going like I did on the Jabari Smith block. Or I have this memory, it was Jonathan Isaac, in San Antonio. Like I blocked him once and he goes for the rebound. But I was tired so I was trying to save my strength, save my energy. He just had an easier jumper.” This will be an aspect that Wembanyama will learn how to overcome in the future, possibly allowing him to win DPOY titles more often.