Victor Wembanyama taking home the Rookie of the Year award should come as no surprise. Last night, he was named the league’s top first-year player unanimously with Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren finishing second and Charlotte’s Brandon Miller in third.
Wembanyama picked up all 99 first-place votes making him the first unanimous Rookie of the Year since Karl-Anthony Towns in 2016. The other unanimous winners create a pretty awesome list to be associated with – Damian Lillard (2013), Blake Griffin (2011), David Robinson (1990), and Ralph Sampson (1984).
Outside of winning the honor, Wembanyama joined some other legendary names with his impressive campaign. I’ll drop a handful of stats below. Shoutout to ESPN and NBA dot com for gathering a lot of these!
Victor Wembanyama is the first player from France to win the Kia NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He is also the third player to earn the honor with the Spurs, joining David Robinson (1989-90) and Tim Duncan (1997-98).
Wemby averaged 21.4 PTS, 10.6 REB, 3.9 AST, 3.6 BLK, and 1.2 STL. The last player to average 20 PTS, 10 REB, 3 AST, and 3 BLK in a single season was Shaquille O’Neal in 1999-2000 – who happened to win the MVP that season.
The first player in NBA history with 1,500+ points, 700+ rebounds, 250+ assists, 250+ blocks, and 100+ 3-pointers in a season.
Wembanyama became only the second rookie in NBA history to lead the league in blocks. The only other to accomplish that was Manute Bol in 1985-86.
Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
He became just the third rookie to record 250+ blocks in a season since 1992-93 (when both Alonzo Mourning and Shaq did it).
Registered 342 combined steals and blocks: First rookie to eclipse 300+ combined steal and blocks in a season since Shaq in 1992-93.
He averaged 4.5 blocks per game after the All-Star Break which is the most by any player, not just rookies, since Dikembe Mutombo in 1994.
He averaged a combined 4.81 blocks and steals per game which is the highest total by any player since Ben Wallace in 2001-02. That year Wallace won his first ever Defensive Player of the Year award.
Youngest player in NBA history to record a 20/20 game: 20 points, 20 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks vs. Chicago on Dec. 8
Youngest player in NBA history to post a 40/20 game: 40 points, 20 rebounds, 7 assists vs. New York on March 29
Wembanyama became the youngest player to ever record a 5×5 game which he did against the Lakers this season. He put up 27 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 blocks, and 5 steals.
Wembanyama joined Spurs legend David Robinson and Shaq as the only rookies ever to reach at least 1,500 points, 150 blocks, and 150 assists in 50 games. He’s the only rookie to tally 250 blocks and 250 assists in a single season; only four other players, regardless of years of service, had ever done that. (H/T The Athletic)
Long story short, Wembanyama put together a legendary season. He came into his rookie season with as much hype as any rookie since probably LeBron James. And he completely lived up to that hype.
Matt is from the Chicagoland area and has been working in Chicago sports since 2015 with stops at WGN Radio, the Chicago Blackhawks, Stadium, and NBC Sports Chicago prior to landing at Betsperts. Matt covers just about everything for Betsperts and Bleacher Nation but focuses on the NHL and college football.
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