Wemby captures DPOY as first unanimous winner

SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama captured the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award Monday night, setting the 7-foot-4 phenom on a path he predicted for himself as a rookie.

Just before fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert won DPOY for the fourth time at the end of Wembanyama's rookie season in 2024, the then-20-year old said in French that Gobert's days of winning the award were numbered.

"I know that Rudy has a very good chance of winning it this year, and it would be deserved," Wembanyama said. "Let him win it now, because after that, it's no longer his turn."

Wembanyama is the youngest DPOY winner at 22 years old and the first to win the award unanimously. He's also San Antonio's first DPOY winner since former Spurs star Kawhi Leonard won in back-to-back seasons (2014-15 and 2015-16), a trend Wembanyama hopes to reignite, perhaps with even more consecutive victories.

"The real struggle might have been getting to 65 games," Wembanyama said -- referring to the number he needed for award eligibility -- on NBC Sports Network on Monday. "But I'm super, super happy to win this award and actually super proud to be the first-ever unanimous."

Wembanyama earned all 100 first-place votes for the award. Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren finished second with 76 second-place votes. Detroit's Ausar Thompson was third.

Before Wembanyama became the first unanimous winner of the award, Ben Wallace (2001-02) was the closest to accomplishing the feat when he received 116 of the 120 first-place votes with Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Dikembe Mutombo combining for the remaining votes.

It took a year longer than Wembanyama expected to win his first DPOY because of his ineligibility for awards last season after he sat out 36 games, the majority of which stemmed from a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. Now, it appears it's Wembanyama's time to start bringing in hardware.

Wembanyama is also a finalist for the NBA's Most Valuable Player award with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic.

"Everything that [he's] achieved so far has been earned and never given," said teammate Keldon Johnson, a finalist for NBA Sixth Man of the Year. "He's one of the hardest workers I've ever been around. He takes his craft very seriously and I feel like this is just a small token of what's to come for Victor. He's a special player on the court and an even more special person off the court."

Wembanyama led the NBA in blocks (197) for the second consecutive season in addition to logging 66 steals as the defensive anchor for a Spurs team that finished with the league's second-best defensive rating (110.4). Wembanyama ranked fourth in rebounding (11.5 per game) and was second behind Jokic in defensive rebounding (9.5).

"Vic's a lot different than a typical defender," teammate Stephon Castle said. "Most of the time when somebody wins Defensive Player of the Year it's like more team defense and obviously, you have to be a great defender as well. But I feel like for Vic, he could've won it on any team in the league."

Wembanyama, however, disagreed with Castle's assessment, saying his teammates and coaches deserve credit for putting him in this position.

"We often overlook the team aspect," Wembanyama said. "I'm sitting here. I happen to be the guy who's put in the spotlight, but I am part of a system and I couldn't get this award and I couldn't do what I do if it wasn't for my teammates ... and my coaching staff."

Wembanyama logged two blocks Sunday in his playoff debut against the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland's shooters finished scoreless on 11 attempts when Wembanyama was the contesting defender, according to ESPN Research.

"He deters people from even shooting the ball," Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox said. "You talk about guys that change shots. He literally negates guys even shooting the ball. They'll see him in there and dribble the ball out or kick out. He changes the whole dynamic of your defense, and he changes the dynamic of other team's offense."

Wembanyama finished second behind Gobert in DPOY voting as a rookie, the only other season he was eligible.

When asked after his final game of the regular season whether he'd be surprised if he didn't win the award unanimously, Wembanyama didn't hesitate.

"Yes, I would," he said.