By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
San Antonio Spurs’ superstar neophyte Victor Wembanyama won his first major award in the NBA and was recently hailed as the league’s Rookie of the Year on May 7, 2024.
The 20-year-old star from France became the sixth player in NBA history to win the Rookie of the Year unanimously after Karl Anthony-Towns, Ralph Samson, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Damian Lillard, and Blake Griffin.
Wembanyama clinched all 99 first-place votes from the media organization panel, surpassing Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren who landed second place.
Holmgren, who went toe-to-toe with Wembanyama during the Rookie of the Year race, garnered 98 second-place votes while Brandon Miller of the Charlotte Hornets bagged the third place with 83 votes.
Despite the Spurs finishing 14th in the Western Conference, the fourth-worst record in the NBA, Wembanyama was still able to put up incredible numbers and immediately made an impact in his first year as a member of the San Antonio franchise.
In 71 games played in his rookie season, Wembanyama tallied an All-Star stat-line of 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.6 blocks, 3.9 assists, and 1.2 steals per contest for the Spurs.
Wembanyama ended his first NBA regular season with a bang after recording 46 straight games with double-figures in scoring, including a 34-point performance against the Denver Nuggets in their last game before the playoffs started.
In two straight months from January-February, Wembanyama boosted his chances of taking a landslide vote as the Rookie of the Year after putting up two rare stat lines.
Last January 11, 2024, the seven-foot-four made history after recording the second-fastest triple-double in just 21 minutes of action against the Detroit Pistons.
Wembanyama tallied 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists during San Antonio’s lopsided 130-108 victory over the Pistons on the road.
He then followed it up with another impressive outing on February 13, 2024, when he pulled off a rare triple-double with blocks during their 122-99 win over the Toronto Raptors.
In just 28 minutes of playing time, Wembanyama already had a triple-double of 27 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 blocks.
During his triple-double performance against the Raptors, Wembanyama became the fourth rookie to record the stat line with blocks.
Wembanyama joined Mark Eaton, Ralph Samson, and former San Antonio Spurs franchise player David Robinson as the only rookies to achieve a triple-double with blocks.
This season, Wembanyama made it into an elite company after joining Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic and Indiana Pacers’ floor general Tyrese Haliburton as the only player to record a triple-double without a turnover.
