Victor Wembanyama unanimously voted the NBA’s best rookie

French youngster Victor Wembanyama, who plays for the San Antonio Spurs, won the unanimous award for the best rookie of the 2023/24 season in the NBA. He clearly beat Chet Holmgrem and Brandon Miller in the voting.

Wembanyma clearly dominated the league in blocks

The 20-year-old, who is the number one overall pick in last year’s draft, appeared in 71 regular season games in his debut season in the NBA, averaging 21.4 points per game. He also averaged 10.6 rebounds, but dominated the league with 3.6 blocks per game.

He became only the second rookie in NBA history to become the best blocking player after Manute Bol, who did it in the 1985-86 season. Meanwhile, Wembanyama completely dominated the voting as all 99 voters ranked him first.

The French basketball player thus became only the third San Antonio player to win the award since the 1952/53 season, when the Rookie of the Year award was given. Before him, Hall of Fame members David Robinson in 1989/90 and Tim Duncan in 1997/98.

Wembanyama dominated among rookies in points, rebounds and blocks. He was fourth in assists (3.9) and second in steals (1.2). In addition, he made NBA history when he became the first player to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks per game in less than 30 minutes in a single season.

He also became the first player to score 1,500 points, 700 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 blocks and make at least 100 threes in a single season.

Wembanyama flew into his debut season like a comet. He has already managed to surpass the 40 points per game and 20 rebounds per game mark. In addition, he was also able to record two highly-regarded triple-doubles, which is double-digits in three stats in one game.

He also made NBA history in the winning game against the Toronto Raptors, in which he managed to record 10 straight blocked shots. His great defensive performance is also evidenced by the fact that he is also nominated for the best defender of the year award. He will compete for this trophy with last year’s winner Rudy Gobert.

Second in the voting behind Wembanyama was Oklahoma’s Chet Holmgrem and third was Charlotte’s Brandon Miller. The last time Karl-Anthony Towns unanimously won this award was in the 2015-16 season.

Source: NBA