Spurs' Victor Wembanyama named 2023-24 NBA Rookie of the Year after stellar first season

07/05/2024 01:01

A race that essentially ended on February 29 is now officially over. The NBA named San Antonio Spurs generational talent Victor Wembanyama the 2023-2024 NBA Rookie of the Year on Monday.

Oklahoma City Thunder big man Chet Holmgren finishes second for a postseason award that was among the easiest to predict across the league. Wembanyama got all 99 first-place votes for 495 points–making him the sixth unanimous Rookie of the Year in league history. Meanwhile, Holmgren got 98 second-place votes and one third-place vote for 295 total points. Charlotte Hornets rising star Brandon Miller received one second-place vote and 83 third place votes, earning him 86 points.

Victor Wembanyama received all 99 first-place votes from a media panel, making him the first unanimous NBA Rookie of the Year since Karl-Anthony Towns in the 2015-16 season. pic.twitter.com/cWcjdXRrUD

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 6, 2024

The easy case for Victor Wembanyama

For all of the skill and fluidity at his size, for all of his highlights in a spectacular first NBA season, for all of the historic stat lines, perhaps the simplest way to describe Wemby’s rookie year is this way: he exceeded ridiculously high expectations.

So hyped was Wembanyama from the start, that “The greatest NBA prospect since LeBron James” might as well have served as his first name. On draft night, a respected journalist who’s covered the league for years said a team executive had shared that the 7-foot-4 marvel might be the greatest prospect in the history of sports.

In dazzling on the floor and putting together statistical performances that boggled the mind, the first pick in last year’s draft finished with one of the most productive rookie seasons the game has seen. Per contest, he led the Spurs with 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, a league-leading 3.6 blocks, 3.9 assists, and 1.2 assists. As if those numbers from a 19-year-old who turned 20 a little less than midway through the season weren’t impressive enough, he achieved all of it in under 30 minutes per outing.

Wemby whizzes past Chet Holmgren

This past season’s first two Western Conference NBA Rookie of the Month awards went to Holmgren.

Wembanyama bounced back in January thanks to a month that saw him record his first triple-double and put up an electrifying performance on his birthday against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on January 4. Wemby scored 27, grabbed 9 rebounds and blocked 5 shots, including a rejection on a Greek Freak dunk attempt late in a 125-121 Bucks victory. In averaging 24 points, nearly 10 boards and 3.3 in both blocks and assists through the month, Wembanyama not only opened eyes but forced the basketball world to wonder if he had started to tilt the ROY race.

February saw Wembanyama’s second triple-double, becoming the first rookie since David Robinson to record the feat with blocks, with 27, 14, and 10. That game proved one of five in eight in which the French marvel scored at least 25 points. Included in that stretch came the last night of the month vs. Oklahoma City.

The 2023 first-overall pick thoroughly outplayed the 2022 second-overall pick that night. But that tells just part of the story.

With the Spurs holding a six-point lead with 2:10 remaining in the game, Wembanyama hit three of his team-high 28 points to help give San Antonio a cushion against the squad that had, and finished, with the best record in the Western Conference.

On the next trip down, Wemby sealed the game and the Rookie of the Year award.

Guarding Holmgren at the top of the key, the Defensive Player of the Year finalist stayed with the 7-foot-1 Thunder star through a dribble move and crossover. By the time Holmgren went up for a shot he’d get off against just about everyone else in a league full of the world’s best athletes, Wembanyama reacted with a block that came to symbolize the NBA ROY race.

Victor Wembanyama with the game-sealing BLOCK on Chet Holmgren pic.twitter.com/jB8z3w5HDW

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 1, 2024

Four nights later, Wemby hoisted February’s Rookie of the Month trophy.

More than two months and another ROM award later, Victor Wembanyama gets word that he’ll soon hoist another rookie-related trophy.

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