French international center Victor Wembanyama, from the San Antonio Spurs, was, on Monday, the first player to be unanimously elected ‘best defenseman of the year’ in the regular phase of the North American Basketball League (NBA).
Wembanyama, who was also the youngest ever, at 22 years old, to win the award, received all 100 votes for first place, thus making a ‘perfect’ 500 points.
The Frenchman receives the Hakeem Oaljuwon trophy at beating Chet Holmgren, of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who was second, with 239 votes, and Ausar Thompson, of the Detroit Pistons, third, with 60.
Wembanyama, who led the in blocks for the third consecutive season, he is the fourth Spurs player to win the award, since 1982/83, succeeding Alvin Robertson (1986), David Robinson (1992) and Kawhi Leonard (2015 and 2016).
Player was ‘rookie of the year’ in 2024
O Frenchman adds this award to ‘rookie of the year’achieved in 2023/24, being only the third player to achieve this ‘double’, after David Robinson and Michael Jordan, the best player of ‘all time’.
‘Wemby’ is also a candidate for ‘Most Valuable Player’ (MVP) of the regular seasonan award for which he is competing with Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, from the Oklahoma City Thunder, holder of the award (2025), and with Serbian Nikola Jokic, from the Denver Nuggets, three-time winner (2021, 2022 and 2024).
