Wembanyama, who won Rookie of the Year two years ago and was generally considered a lock for Defensive Player of the Year last season until he had to be shut down while dealing with deep vein thrombosis, has a three-part campaign pitch.
“My first one would be that defense is 50% of the game and that it is undervalued so far in the MVP race. I believe I’m the most impactful player defensively in the league,” Wembanyama said. “Second argument would be that we almost swept OKC in the season, and we dominated them three times with their real team. … The third argument would be that offense impact is not just points.”
It should not surprise anyone that the Spurs also believe Wembanyama is more than just an MVP contender.
“I think he’s close,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “All those guys you named are deserving; a couple of them already have that award. And I’m very biased. I get to see one of those guys every single night. I get to see him on the practice court. I get to see what he does in the morning. I get to see what does right now after the game. So, I understand my opinion and outlook and perspective is very different than almost everyone else.
“But he affects as much of the game in every single way — on the court, on both ends, with and without the ball, what the other team tries to do, plan for, scheme, adjust to, on both sides of the basketball, in my very ignorant opinion, as much as any other player I’ve ever seen. Take that for whatever it’s worth.”
The Spurs are 54-18. They’re going to be the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. They’ll have home court in Round 1 of the playoffs, Round 2 if they get there and almost certainly would have it in the NBA Finals if they get that far.
There are a lot of reasons for that, but the biggest reason — literally, given that Wembanyama is 7-foot-4 — is a 22-year-old face of the franchise who has wowed the Spurs every day with his maturity and work ethic.
The MVPs are almost certainly coming at some point. Wembanyama doesn’t want to keep waiting.
“Right now, it is still reasonable that there is a debate,” Wembanyama said. “But as I said, my goal is to make sure there’s no debate anymore at the end of the season.”