San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama is on his way to superstardom. After winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award last season, the No. 1 pick of the 2023 NBA Draft won his first Olympic silver medal for France during the 2024 Olympics.
Given his current trajectory, Wembanyama is bound to have more trophies under his resume. According to ESPN’s Summer Forecast panel, the San Antonio Spurs star is poised to win both the NBA Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year awards this upcoming season.
Victor Wembanyama notched 76 points in ESPN’s poll for the DPOY trophy (67 percent first-place votes), putting him well above his compatriot, Minnesota Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert, who has 29 points (five percent first-place votes). He is also tied with Oklahoma City Thunder’s Jalen Williams in the MIP voting, as they both received 26 points.
The voters’ confidence in Wembanyama speaks to his immense potential after taking the league by storm last season, averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.2 steals, and a league-high 3.6 blocks in 71 regular season games.
The future is bright for Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs
Despite having Victor Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spurs didn’t win much last season, finishing with the second-worst record in the Western Conference at 22-60.
The San Antonio Spurs have been fairly busy this offseason, acquiring veterans Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes while re-signing Charles Bassey and Sandro Mamukelashvili to one-year contracts.
Chris Paul, in particular, is known to be great at mentoring some of the league’s top young stars. He did so most recently with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at Oklahoma City, and San Antonio hopes for the same outcome for Victor Wembanyama.
