Victor Wembanyama first rookie ever selected to NBA All-Defensive First Team

Wembanyama becomes the first rookie named All-Defense since Tim Duncan.

Victor Wembanyama’s hardware collection got a bit bigger today. The NBA announced the San Antonio Spurs rookie made the All-Defensive First Team. He becomes the first ever rookie to be named to the First Team. He is the first rookie to make an All-Defensive team since Tim Duncan did so in the 1997-98 season.

Wembanyama joins Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert, Herb Jones, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis on the All-Defensive First Team. The second team features Alex Caruso, Jrue Holiday, Jaden McDaniels, Jalen Suggs and Derrick White. Wembanyama finishes second overall in total voting points behind Gobert.

Wembanyama led the NBA in blocks with 3.6 a game, with 254 total blocks this year. He provided a major improvement to a historically bad Spurs defense. With Wembanyama on the court, the Spurs had a 117.2 defensive rating. Without him, that rating went to 123.1, worse than last year’s franchise worst defensive rating of 120.

Wembanyama is the sixth rookie to make an All-Defensive team, joining Duncan, David Robinson, Manute Bol, Hakeem Olajuwon and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He joins Duncan and Robinson as the only players in franchise history to win rookie of the year and make the All-Defensive team in the same season.

Wembanyama will be a candidate for an All-NBA team, set to be announced on Wednesday, May 22. If selected, he would become the 22nd rookie ever to make an All-NBA team. Wembanyama will look to get one more piece of hardware before the start of next season – an Olympic medal with France during the Paris Summer Olympics.