SAN ANTONIO — It's NBA awards season, and the San Antonio Spurs' superstar rookie is a finalist for the league's top defender.
While many believe Victor Wembanyama will ultimately fall short of taking home the award – voted on by 100 sportswriters and broadcasters – his peers across the league already believe him to be the best defender at the end of his first NBA season.
In an anonymous survey conducted by The Athletic, players were tasked to select who they believed was the best NBA defender. Wemby topped the list, ahead of Rudy Gobert, who is likely to win Defensive Player of the Year.
In fact, Wembanyama and four other players were ahead of Gobert in the players poll. The Spurs rookie accrued 15.2% of the vote while Gobert collected 6%.
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Wembanyama is a defensive force. He led the league in blocks per game this season (3.6) while recording 10.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals. His wingspan and ability to recover fast if he is beaten off the dribble make players second-guess themselves near the rim.
He also recorded eight games of at least seven blocks last season, in addition to becoming the youngest player in NBA history to post a stat line of at least five points, five assists, five rebounds, five steals and five blocks.
His peers further praised the young talent in the survey, calling him the best player to build a team around from scratch. In that category, he edged out Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic with 27.9% of the vote to Jokic's 27.2%.
It was not just Wemby who received recognition from league players. Gregg Popovich also received 18.8% of votes in regards to the current coach players would most want to play for, second only to Miami's Erik Spoelstra (20.3%).
The Spurs have themselves their franchise piece to build around in this current transition phase. With San Antonio's offseason now in swing, it remains to be seen how the Spurs mold the roster with Wemby as their anchor in order to take the team back to the top of the NBA mountain.