Victor Wembanyama may not be participating in the NBA playoffs this year, but he’s certainly the shining star the San Antonio Spurs are putting their hopes on. His solid rookie season makes him a clear favorite to win Rookie of the Year, and teams are still trying to figure out how to contain him on both ends of the floor.
Spurs fans believe their new franchise cornerstone has done enough to win this year’s Rookie of the Year honors. A group of analysts seem to agree as they name him the likeliest winner for this year’s top rookie award.
CBS Sports staffers pick San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama as 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year
CBS Sports released a piece that had their leading NBA analysts vote on which players deserve to get the league’s top individual awards.
They seemed to be united on three of the most important individual awards, with nobody picking anybody else on the Rookie of the Year debate aside from Wembanyama.
This was what Sam Quinn had to say about the team’s vote:
The least-debatable award this season, Wemby (who averaged 21.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game while posting an NBA-best 254 blocks) ran away with the honor after Chet Holmgren had a strong few opening months. The Spurs are now uniquely set up to build a title contender around their budding superstar.
Wemby had an incredible debut campaign for the San Antonio Spurs. He finished with 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.2 steals, and a league-leading 3.6 blocks. He shot 46.5% from the field and 32.5% from distance. He was also potent from the free-throw line, making 79.8% of his attempts.
Holmgren was Wemby’s closest competitor for the plaudit, and he did put up respectable numbers himself. He finished the season with 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.6 steals, and 2.3 blocks a contest. He was a better shooter than Wemby: he finished the regular season with 53.0%/37.0%/79.3% shooting splits.
If it were any other year, Holmgren would have easily won ROTY. However, he just had to play alongside a monster of a player in Victor Wembanyama. He would have to make do with playing playoff basketball in his rookie season.
However, this is just the starting point for Wemby. Wemby claimed that he hasn’t let every trick out of the bag yet, and next year could become scary for the rest of the league if that is true.
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