The Victor Wembanyama hurricane is about to make landfall, if it hasn’t already.
Only 117 games into his career thus far, Wembanyama has already been named Rookie of the Year, an All-Star, finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting and led the NBA in blocked shots per game, twice.
The question isn’t if the current 21-year-old will win MVP, but how many. After displaying the greatest defensive performance we’ve seen from a rookie in decades, Wembanyama was the favorite to win DPOY in Year 2 had a blood clot not sidelined him before hitting the mandatory 65 games.
Standing 7’5″ in shoes with a 8-foot wingspan, Wembanyama doesn’t protect the paint; he locks down everything inside the arc. Offenses will be forced to plan their entire scoring attack against his go-go-gadget frame for the next decade and a half.
We haven’t even mentioned the other side of the ball yet.
With averages of 24.3 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.1 steals and 3.8 blocks last season, Wembanyama proved to the league that he’s a threat from outside the three-point line as well. His 3.1 made threes per game on 35.2 percent shooting were major improvements over his rookie season.
A center who can legitimately grab a rebound, take three dribbles and finish with a dunk over a helpless defender, Wembanyama is quickly becoming the NBA’s ultimate weapon.
We’ll see how much current teammates like De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle cut into his scoring numbers over a full season. In five years, however, Wembanyama should be the top MVP candidate and may have a handful of trophies already.
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