Victor Wembanyama comes in second for Defensive Player of the Year

Even though he didn’t win, there’s still a good chance for the rookie to make some NBA history on that end.

One night after being announced as only the sixth unanimous Rookie of the Year, Victor Wembanyama almost made history again, coming in second for Defensive Player of the Year behind the winner and fellow French big man, Rudy Gobert, who won for the fourth time in his career, joining Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace as the only four-time winners. Wemby finished with 19 first-place votes, 44 second-place votes, and 18 third-place votes.

The results aren’t surprising based on what we already knew from voters who had released their results, plus it had been made pretty clear that many just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a rookie on a bottom 10 defense. That being said, it’s worth noting that he was voted as the best defender in the league by his own peers in a survey for The Athletic, and it’s not hard to understand why. Not only did he lead the league in blocks, stocks (steals + blocks) and block percentage, swatting a whopping 10 percent of the shots that came is way, but that was despite players often making the conscious decision to not even give him the opportunity, like we saw in this hilarious 3-on-1 situation against the Grizzlies late in the season.

Even though Wemby wasn’t the winner this year, he surely will win it in the future. Runner-up is still a historic accomplishment for a rookie, and he still has a chance to make history on that end should he make the All-Defense 1st team, which is position-less starting this season. (In other words, 1st team is the top five defenders in the league regardless of position, 2nd team is the next five, etc.) No rookie has ever made the first team, and only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Manute Bol, David Robinson and Tim Duncan made the 2nd team in their rookie seasons.

It’s amazing how much Wemby has accomplished in his rookie season. Despite all the hype and seemingly impossible expectations, he managed to exceed them (but don’t tell him that) and has even started generating a little talk of potential GOAT status. While it’s too early for that, there’s no denying that the future has rarely looked brighter for a rookie. Assuming his development continues to go according to plan, this is probably the “worst” version of Wemby we will see — a possibility that’s almost too mindboggling to comprehend.