The NBA is old, but basketball is older.
This is the most important thing to remember when you compare the NBA’s past to its present. Seventy-seven years’ worth of players have taken the floor at the game’s highest level, but basketball — the sport — was famously created by James Naismith 55 years before the NBA was born in 1946.
Any NBA player who does something no one has done before means that player can achieve a unique kind of immortality.
All of this brings us to Sunday. San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama became the first player in NBA history to be selected as one of three finalists for both the league’s Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Both award finalists were announced during TNT’s NBA pregame show.
Rookie of the Year
For the Rookie of the Year award, Wembanyama was named a finalist alongside Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren and Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller.
Holmgren, who was drafted No. 2 overall in the 2022 NBA Draft but missed the entire 2022-23 regular season due to injury, started all 82 regular season games for a Thunder team that went from qualifying for last season’s NBA Play-In Tournament to capturing the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in 2023-24.
He averaged 16.5 points on 53% field goal shooting and 37% three-point shooting while also posting 7.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.3 blocks.
Miller, who was drafted No. 2 overall behind Wembanyama in the 2023 NBA Draft, brought his big shot-making from the University of Alabama to Charlotte. He posted averages of 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists. His 37.3% on three-point shooting was ranked fourth best among rookies. Holmgren’s 37% was ranked fifth among all rookies.
Here are the categories where Wembanyama is ranked No. 1 among NBA rookies this season: scoring (21.4 points), rebounding (10.6), blocks (3.6) and steals (1.2).
Wembanyama was also named Western Conference Rookie of the Month three times this season.
Defensive Player of the Year
Wembanyama will have to fend off two all-NBA defenders to win Defensive Player of the Year, an award that dates back to the 1982-83 season.
Miami Heat center/forward Bam Adebayo is one of the NBA’s best two-way players. Already a three-time NBA All-Star at age 26, Adebayo (career-best 8.1 defensive rebounds per game, commits 2.2 personal fouls per game) is guaranteed his fifth top-five finish in Defensive Player of the Year voting in as many years.
The biggest difference this year versus the previous four years: Adebayo could finish, at worst, in third place, which is already the best showing he has ever had in DPOY voting.
Wembanyama is very familiar with the final DPOY finalist, as are most offensive players who dare wandering into the paint.
His fellow countryman, Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, is back in familiar territory. He was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year three times before (2017-18, 2018-19 and 2020-21). In all, Gobert (9.2 defensive rebounds per game, 2.1 blocks per game in 2023-24) has finished in the top five for DPOY voting eight times (2014-15, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2023-24) and has been named as a first-team All-NBA defensive player six separate times (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22).
Missed it by *that* much
The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama is definitely the first NBA rookie to be named a top-three finalist for ROY and DPOY, but he is not the first rookie to finish in the top five for both awards.
There are two other rookies who came oh, so close.
Manute Bol was drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1985 and he made an instant impact in his first NBA season. Bol, who was 7-foot-7, finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting and fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting.
The 1985-86 winners of these awards are somewhat familiar faces: New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing (ROY) and Spurs shooting guard Alvin Robertson (DPOY).
The other rookie who came close was you-know-who.
Tim Duncan had one of the most insane rookie seasons in NBA history, but only he could muster a Rookie of the Year win and a fifth-place finish for Defensive Player of the Year in 1997-98. Ho hum.
The NBA also announced the three finalists for five other awards Sunday: Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year, Clutch Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
The league said TNT will reveal the winner of each award during the network’s coverage of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, starting Tuesday, April 23.
The order of each award announcement is not yet known.
