NBA Record-setting Victor Wembanyama named Rookie of the Year

Tim Reynolds

2 Min Read07 May, 2024

San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama (1) dunks against Minnesota Timberwolves' Mike Conley (10) during the second half of an NBA basketball in-season tournament game Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate) Credit: Darren Abate/AP

Victor Wembanyama had a year like no rookie in NBA history.

Others scored more points, others grabbed more rebounds, others had more blocks, others made more steals. But never had there been a player who, in the first year of his career, posted all these averages: at least 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game.

Until now.

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The long-expected result became reality on Tuesday AEST, when the Spurs’ star from France was announced as the NBA’s Rookie of the Year.

He is the third San Antonio player to win the award, joining David Robinson in 1990 and Tim Duncan in 1998 - both of whom, like Wembanyama, were No.1 overall picks and instantly anointed as centres who would lead the Spurs to greatness.

“My goals were always to help my team as best as I could and get better as the year went on,” Wembanyama said from San Antonio on TNT after the award was announced on the network’s NBA playoff pre-game show.

“I knew in order to do this I had to be individually good on the court and dominant. So, it was a huge thing for me and a big thing to get.”

Wembanyama is the sixth player since the award debuted in the 1952-53 season to get every first-place vote. He joins Houston’s Ralph Sampson (1984), Robinson (1990), the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin (2011), Portland’s Damian Lillard (2013) and Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns (2016).

Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and Charlotte’s Brandon Miller were the other finalists for the award.

He became the first international winner of the award since Dallas’s Luka Doncic in 2019 and the fifth such winner in the past 10 seasons.

Andrew Wiggins (Canada) won in 2015, Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic) in 2016, Ben Simmons (Australia) in 2018, and Doncic followed the next season.

Wembanyama became just the fourth player, and first rookie, to finish a season with at least 1500 points, 250 assists and 250 blocked shots. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it five times, Hakeem Olajuwon did it twice and Robinson did it twice.

The rookie award may be the start of a big week for Wembanyama, who is also in the top three finishers for Defensive Player of the Year.

The NBA will reveal the MVP - either Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Dallas’s Luka Doncic or Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - on Thursday (AEST).