There had never been a unanimous NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Until now.
Victor Wembanyama — as expected — was announced Monday as the league’s top defensive player. The San Antonio center was second in the voting for DPOY as a rookie, was the favorite last season until a medical condition ended his season prematurely, then left no doubt this year.
At 22, he’s the youngest winner of the award.
“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. “But I’m super, super happy to win this award and actually super proud to be the first-ever unanimous.”
Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren was second and Detroit’s Ausar Thompson was third after both helped their teams secure No. 1 seeds for the playoffs. But this was never in doubt, not after the 7-foot-4 — or maybe taller — Wembanyama led the NBA in blocked shots for a third consecutive season and generally terrorized opponents any time they wanted to score.
“Best player in the world,” Spurs forward Keldon Johnson said.
The NBA will continue its award announcements Tuesday when the Clutch Player of the Year — either Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Denver’s Jamal Murray — is revealed. Wembanyama is also a finalist for MVP, with the winner of that trophy not set to be revealed until next week at the earliest.
First, the league got this announcement out of the way. And Wembanyama’s win was accompanied by a slew of milestones.
— Every other winner of the award had been at least 23. Wembanyama doesn’t turn 23 until next January.
— The Spurs became the first franchise with four players to win DPOY, which was first handed out in the 1982-83 season. The others? Alvin Robertson in 1986, David Robinson in 1992 and Kawhi Leonard in 2015 and 2016.
— Wembanyama joins Robinson and Michael Jordan as the only players to win both Rookie of the Year and DPOY.
“I’ve had the chance to have great coaches over my career who have taught me great habits on defense,” Wembanyama said.
The biggest accomplishment may be this: Wemby got every voter to agree.
Golden State’s Stephen Curry was the unanimous MVP in 2016 and in the 10 seasons that have followed, there have been only two instances of a player collecting 100% of the first-place votes for an award.
Those were Wembanyama for Rookie of the Year in 2024, and now this.
No player in at least the last 50 seasons — and maybe ever, since it’s hard to say with certainty because some full voting results for awards handed out generations ago are not known publicly — has won two major individual awards unanimously.
It’s the 10th known unanimous pick in any vote for MVP, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player, DPOY or Coach of the Year. And some of biggest names, including LeBron James and Michael Jordan, never won a major award unanimously.
“I feel like he is one of the hardest workers that I’ve ever been around,” Johnson said. “He takes his craft very seriously. I feel like this is just a small token of what’s to come for Victor. He’s a special player now. He’s a special player on the court and even more special person off the court as well. This is just a small token, small flowers that’s given to him for Defensive Player of the Year.”
Holmgren and Thompson both got votes for the first time; a panel of reporters and broadcasters who cover the league were asked to pick their top three in the category, with ballots due last week before the playoffs started.
Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert — a four-time DPOY winner — was fourth, followed, in order, by Toronto’s Scottie Barnes, Boston’s Derrick White, Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace, Houston’s Amen Thompson, Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels and New York’s OG Anunoby.
There was a three-way tie for 11th between Detroit’s Jalen Duren, Golden State’s Draymond Green — the 2017 winner — and Miami’s Bam Adebayo.
Wembanyama is an MVP finalist (along with Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP, and three-time winner Nikola Jokic of Denver), which almost certainly means he’ll be an All-NBA first-team selection. And the DPOY win means he’ll also be on the All-Defensive team, so the Frenchman is assured of no fewer than four trophies from this year’s award season.
“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.”
___
AP freelance writer Raul Dominguez contributed to this report.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
