It’s officially official. San Antonio Spurs’ rookie Victor Wembanyama was named the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year during TNT’s pregame show Monday night.
The French phenom, coined ‘alien,’ averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 3.6 blocks per game in his rookie season. San Antonio finished with the fifth-worst record in the league, but Wembanyama’s impact was felt on another level.
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It is a level that gives Spurs fans the belief that improbable wins aren’t so far-fetched and the future is very bright.
Before the start of his rookie campaign, Wembanyama was already the odds-on favorite to win ROY. Around the same time in mid-July, Portland’s Scoot Henderson and OKC’s Chet Holmgren had the next best odds to win the award.
Once the 2023-24 NBA season tipped off, the Rookie of the Year battle between Spurs’ 7-foot-4 French forward/center Wembanyama and OKC’s Minnesota-born big man Holmgren became clear.
The two exchanged massive performances on any given night from late November to late January. The odds fluctuated between both rookies during that period.
However, when Wembanyama’s minute’s restriction was lifted in March after his ankle injury on Dec. 23, he quickly became the runaway favorite for the ROY award.
Wembanyama is also a top-3 finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. The winner is scheduled to be announced on Tuesday.
The 2023 No. 1 overall pick is the first player in NBA history to be selected as a finalist for the league’s Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Although, the bout for DPOY involves two all-NBA defenders in Miami’s Bam Adebayo and Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert.
Gobert is the odds-on favorite to win the award. He was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year three times before (2017-18, 2018-19 and 2020-21).
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