Victor Wembanyama is Coming For NBA Rookie of the Year
It won't be long before the San Antonio Spurs, and head coach Gregg Popovich, will ease Victor Wembanyama back into regular minutes, and the ability to play on the back end of back-to-back games.
The 20-year-old has played under a 24-minute restriction since Dec. 21, and spent two games adjusting to the format, set in place to protect a sore ankle.
By the third game, however... well, he had figured it out.
Wembanyama's past seven games have been, in a single word, remarkable.
He's played just 23.7 minutes in that span, which I need to underline to you, dear reader, is just under one half of an NBA regulation game.
Somehow, the low minutes total only seems to - inexplicably - have made Wembanyama better.
In the aforementioned 23.7 minutes the rookie big man is netting a mesmerizing 23.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 3.4 blocks per game, while connecting on 52.3% from the field, 35.1% from long-range, and 88.6% of his 6.3 nightly free throw attempts. Because why wouldn't he?
That type of production, even for a player who gets close to 40 minutes per game, would be impressive. Wembanyama does this in less than one half of basketball.
Against the Detroit Pistons on January 10th, the 7-foot-4 rookie sensation posted his first career triple-double in just 21 minutes. Only Russell Westbrook - a career triple-double merchant - has done it in less time, and by only one minute.
While the triple-double alone is impressive enough, Wembanyama made sure to make it stand out even more by channeling three historic playmakers.
He generated three assists off a touchdown pass, not dissimilar to the great Nikola Jokić, a no-look pass at the free throw line area that made one think of both Jason Kidd and Steve Nash, and finally nutmegged Bojan Bogdanović which led to a layup by Julian Champagnie.
Two nights later, he went for 26 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks in 19 minutes and 41 seconds, hammering home the point that regardless of how many minutes he's out there, he will be productive.
So, what are we to take away from these performances, outside of the obvious fact that the Frenchman is living up to the hype?
Simple. He's coming for that Rookie Of the Year award.
While Chet Holmgren has been busy receiving praise for his play - and deservedly so - Wembanyama has made it his mission to be so preposterously dominant that looking his way come voting time will become unavoidable.
While the two spent the first 30% of the season putting up similar numbers, Wembanyama's per-minute production has skyrocketed, thus separating itself from Holmgren.
On a per 36 minute basis, Wembanyama is putting up 24.4 points, 12.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and a whopping 3.9 blocks.
Holmgren, adjusted to his own per 36, is at 21.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.8 steals, and 3.0 blocks.
Let's not pretend like Holmgren's production isn't tremendously impressive in it's own right. Those are world-conquering numbers for any rookie, and in almost every other year, he would have blown the competition out of the water.
This year, Wembanyama isn't letting him breathe, leading in all the five major categories.
Don't worry, Thunder fans. Holmgren is veru comfortably ahead in the efficiency department, and I wouldn't dream of not bringing that up. He's currently sporting a TS% of 65.7% which is leagues ahead of Wembanyama's 54.6%.
While there's certainly an aspect of benefit by playing next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, as opposed to Devin Vassell, Holmgren flat-out is better at understanding the right shot at the right time, and it's not close yet.
That said, if Holmgren has the advantage in Rookie Of the Year so far - which I don't think is an easy argument to make anymore - Wembanyama is closing in with speed that's making The Flash blush.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
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