Victor Wembanyama named finalist for Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year

No surprise here, but big news nonetheless.

Spurs rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama has been named one of the top three finalists for two NBA awards for the 2023-24 season: Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. His competition for the former is Chet Holmgren and Brandon Miller, and the latter is Rudy Gobert and Bam Adebayo.

While Wemby should be heavily favored for Rookie of the Year, Gobert appears to be the favorite for Defensive Player of the Year, which wouldn’t be surprising based on voters who have released their ballots and the fact that some probably couldn’t get themselves to vote for a rookie on a bottom 10 defense. That being said, he still has a chance to make some history. Should he be voted to the 1st Team All-Defense, which is positionless beginning this year, he would be the first rookie to ever the first team. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Manute Bol, David Robinson and Tim Duncan all made the second team their rookie seasons.

Congrats, Victor!