Victor Wembanyama wins Kia Rookie of the Year
The San Antonio Spurs number one overall draft pick lived up to the hype in his debut campaign, winning Rookie of the Year after a sensational season.
It turns out, the hype is real. Victor Wembanyama was the talk of the NBA in his rookie season, and from everything he showed in his first year in the league in looks like we are going to be talking about him for a very, very long time. The Frenchman was named Rookie of the Year after a spectacular debut campaign.
Wemby’s dominant debut
After years of chatter and speculation, Victor Wembanyama went number one in last year’s NBA Draft after fine tuning his game in France. The San Antonio Spurs drew the first pick after the Lottery, and they did what everyone in world had expected for the last few years. He was taken first overall, and hit the ground running.
Let’s not forget that Wemby struggled in his first ever Summer League game, looking a step slow and admitting that we was a bit lost in his debut game in a Spurs jersey. That sensation didn’t last long. Wembanyama wasn’t just a stat filler, he was a box office hit. He made an immediate impact with the Spurs, and instantly made them a team worthy of prime time games in front of a national audience.
In his first year, the newly crowned Rookie of the Year averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 blocks a game. He was a freak on the offensive end and a force on the defensive end. His sheer size and length mixed with his mobility makes him a mismatch nightmare scoring the ball and a vacuum in the paint on the defensive side of the ball.
He is in the running for Defensive Player of the Year in his first year, and averaged incredible numbers on both sides of the ball. If we are going by comparison, he had a better year across the board than the NBA’s All-Time Leading scorer LeBron James in his rookie year.
Wembanyama topped Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and Brandon Miller in the ROY voting. Miller averaged 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists with the Charlotte Hornets, and Holmgren posted 16.5 points, 7,9 rebounds and 2.4 assists in his return to the court after missing his first year with a Lisfranc injury. While Wemby won the award, his Spurs finished second to last in the West while Holmgren’s Thunder earned the first seed, and will take on the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Semifinals.