Tell us if you’ve heard this one before. A transcendent talent, drafted 1st overall by the San Antonio Spurs, who plays the centre position, ushering in a new era of Spurs dominance.
There’s perhaps no franchise that’s been as blessed with lottery luck in terms of churning out franchise altering players as San Antonio has been over the last few decades. First it was David Robinson in 1990. Then Tim Duncan in 1998. And now, the uber talented Frenchman Victor Wembanyama becomes the 3rd Spur to win the NBA rookie of the year award in franchise history.
Wemby earned every bit of the award averaging 21.4pts/10.6reb/3.9ast/1.2stl/3.6blk per game on a rebuilding San Antonio squad, becoming only the 6th player to unanimously win the award in NBA history.
“My goals were always to help my team as best as I could and get better as the year went on,” Wembanyama said from San Antonio on TNT during the network’s pregame show. “I knew in order to do this I had to be individually good on the court and dominant. So, it was a huge thing for me and a big thing to get. It’s always been really important and I’m glad it’s finally official.”
“Physically, the work is never going to be done. I’ve had my plan for months ready for all of my body and we’re going to keep discovering new ways to get better and work on my body. For basketball, there’s a lot I want to work on.”
The 20 year old was a defensive force in his rookie campaign. So much so that his game truly needs to be watched to fully appreciated as the stats don’t tell the whole story. It didn’t take long for NBA veterans to take notice of where Wembanyama was on the floor at any given moment. And by the end of the season, some chose to avoid attacking the rim when he was in the vicinity altogether.
The 7’4″ centre became only the 2nd rookie in league history to lead the NBA in blocks, joining Manute Bol as the only players to accomplish the feat. Not only were his contributions enough to put him on the rookie of the year radar, but he was also named a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year alongside Rudy Gobert and Bam Adebayo as well.
Making the matter all the more impressive is the fact that San Antonio remains a team currently devoid of talent outside of Wembanyama. The club missed the playoffs for the 5th consecutive season, going 22-60 and will hope for some favourable bounces at the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery on Sunday May 12th.
Photo: H4stings. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.