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That got us thinking: Could Wembanyama complete the never-before-seen Triple Crown? Could he win every major award he\u2019s eligible for? (Wemby obviously can\u2019t win Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, or Sixth Man of the Year. Clutch Player of the Year, I\u2019m sorry to say, hasn\u2019t picked up much NBA cultural cachet yet.)<\/p>\n
Only Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Giannis Antetokounmpo have won MVP and DPOY in the same year. Nobody has ever won MVP and MIP together, although a few players have come close, as our crack research team has discovered:<\/p>\n
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MIP and MVP chart<\/p>\n
Kevin Durant came in second in both MIP and MVP back in 2010. That\u2019s proof of concept! And Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Brunson have all been in the Top 5 for both awards this decade. It\u2019s noteworthy that voters are far more likely to consider MVP-caliber players for MIP now than in decades past.<\/p>\n
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So, can our favorite extraterrestrial break yet another barrier? Let\u2019s break down the case.<\/p>\n
The topline stats: In nearly the same minutes as last season, Wembanyama is scoring more (25.6 ppg to 24.3 last season), rebounding more (12.9 rpg to 11.8), blocking more (4.1 bpg to last year\u2019s league-leading 3.8), thieving more (1.3 spg to 1.1) and turning it over less (2.9 tpg to 3.2). His usage and true shooting percentages are both up, too.<\/p>\n
That is, by the strictest definition of the term, substantial improvement!<\/p>\n
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Let\u2019s acknowledge the obvious: Wembanyama will win Defensive Player of the Year if he stays healthy. This is the rare case where the eye test and the metrics are both completely clear. The Spurs allow a paltry 100.8 points per 100 possessions<\/a> when Wemby is on the floor, which is in the 99th percentile. Those same Spurs allow a ridiculously bad 135.5 points when Wemby is off, which is in the 0th percentile. (I don\u2019t even know how to say 0th out loud!)<\/p>\n The individual numbers are even more absurd. As noted above, Wembanyama is averaging a whopping 5.4 stocks (steals plus blocks) per game. The second-place players, Evan Mobley and rookie center Ryan Kalkbrenner, are averaging just 3.7.<\/p>\n The difference between Wemby and everyone else isn\u2019t quite as dramatic on a per-possession basis, but it\u2019s still Eiffel Tower-sized. (And nobody is trying to make the case that runner-ups Adem Bona or Kalkbrenner are as good a defender as Wemby.) To quantify the rim defense even further, San Antonio allows opponents to attempt just 24 percent of their total field goal attempts at the rim with Wembanyama on<\/a> the floor. When he rests, that number jumps to a whopping 40 percent! That difference is the largest in the league. The Spurs allow those layups to go in 67 percent of the time with Wemby off<\/a> versus just 55 percent with him on. His impact is as gargantuan as his stature.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Enough with the stats. Already the best guardsman in the Association before the season started, Wemby has gotten even better. Whatever tiny nitpicking one may have had with Wemby\u2019s defense in the past would have centered around odd moments of relative passivity, when it felt like Wembanyama didn\u2019t know the extent of his powers. Those are gone this year.<\/p>\n Wembanyama is both blocking more shots and fouling more, a sign of his increased activity level, but the good far outweighs the bad. What are offensive players supposed to do when Wemby\u2019s star-spanning reach can pluck a ball out of the air at its apex like an apple?<\/p>\n He\u2019s also excelling in the patient, subtle art of pick-and-roll defense. Watch as he uses his spidery arms to slow the ballhandler\u2019s drive and deter the lob before getting back in rebounding position:<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Wemby Pick-And-Roll<\/p>\n As the rim-protection metrics prove, opponents (particularly smaller players) are absolutely terrified of Wembanyama in the paint. Look at how high Jaime Jaquez has to loft this floater to get over the big man (who doesn\u2019t even jump!) –\u00a0 it\u2019s no surprise the close-range shot misses by two feet:<\/p>\n Wemby Alters Shot<\/p>\n But Wembanyama\u2019s baseline defensive abilities were so high that any improvement could only be incremental. On the other hand, his appropriately enormous strides on the other side of the ball have been jaw-dropping.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Last year, Wembanyama flexed his shotmaking muscles, hoisting three-pointer after three-pointer to give the shooting-starved Spurs a little spacing. This year, he\u2019s flexing his actual muscles. Unlike in previous seasons, Wembanyama\u2019s dunks aren\u2019t all the result of simply being tall. He is disintegrating defenders with a cruel combination of power and agility. An offseason spent training his lower body with monks and soccer players<\/a> has paid off in spades:<\/p>\n Wemby Dunk<\/p>\n Wembanyama usually leaves the long-ball hanging in the closet, choosing instead to wear some practical, steel-toed rim-running boots. As of this writing, Wembanyama is averaging more than three dunks per game, trailing only Giannis Antetokounmpo among high-minutes players. His dunk rate of 21 percent is nearly double last season\u2019s 11 percent!<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The frankly terrifying increase in physicality has led to Wembanyama more than doubling his free-throw attempts this season, helping offset poor accuracy from outside (something he struggled with to start last season, too, before raining one-legged death from all around the arc).<\/p>\n Wembanyama is using brute force everywhere in the paint. He\u2019s doubled his box-outs per game<\/a>, and he\u2019s leading the league in defensive rebounds per contest. The old Wemby could be bowled over with relative ease. The new Wemby is, if not quite rooted like an ancient oak, at least more willing to hit first. Gaining muscle mass is one thing, but the big man has psychologically embraced physicality.<\/p>\n Another mental area of improvement: A reduction in mistakes. Wembanyama has been more of a play-finisher than a playmaker this season (see the dunking note above), but it\u2019s still noteworthy that his turnover rate has morphed from a weakness to a strength<\/a>. His improvement is most evident in his handle. Look at the NBA 2K dribble combinations here:<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Wemby Ball-Handling<\/p>\n Reminder: This dude is 7-foot-4 (at least!), and he\u2019s yo-yoing the ball like guys a foot shorter. It\u2019s unfair. The basketball gods decided to give all their gifts to one player.<\/p>\n But does that make him the actual MVP or MIP? The league has never been blessed with better top-end talents. For all of his improvements, a handful of the usual suspects still edge him on offense and will undoubtedly fill up the old-fashioned box score to a degree not even Wembanyama can match. To catch up statistically, the 21-year-old Wembanyama has to avoid stinkers like his nine-point outing against Phoenix a few days ago and adjust to the crowd of defenders teams have started throwing at him no matter where he is on the court.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Wembanyama will have the \u201cDefense counts, too!\u201d crowd of voters on his side, though, as well as the highlights. His candidacy for Most Valuable Player may come down to how much winning the Spurs can do. San Antonio is currently 5-2, tied for third in the West. If the Spurs can actually maintain a Top 3 seed, the only thing standing between Wembanyama and his first MVP might be a Thunder team that rips off 70 wins –\u00a0and even that might not be enough.<\/p>\n Right now, various oddsmakers have Wemby as the third-favorite to win Most Valuable Player, behind only SGA and Luka Doncic (with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic in the discussion, too). That feels about right.<\/p>\n Most Improved will be the bigger hurdle. There\u2019s a sense among many voters that players of Wembanyama\u2019s ilk (in short, generational talents) are too good to \u201cdeserve\u201d an award like MIP. A look at recent history suggests that Wembanyama has an uphill battle.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n While several second-overall picks have won the George Mikan Trophy in recent history (Ja Morant, Brandon Ingram, and Victor Oladipo have all done it in the last decade), only one first pick (Pervis Ellison) has ever won MIP. No. 1 picks are a different breed, destined, in theory, for greatness. Most Improved has often been about surpassing expectations as much as actual, tangible improvements, and you\u2019ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn\u2019t think the universe of Wembanyama. An electric first few games jumpstarted Wembanyama\u2019s chances, but as of this writing, most oddsmakers had Wembanyama hovering just outside the Top 10.<\/p>\n Then again, MIP changes dramatically over the course of the season, particularly in the first few months. We\u2019ve proven the on-court improvements are vast. If Wembanyama ends the season as a near-30-point scorer on strong efficiency, voters will have to take stock of what \u201cMost Improved\u201d really means to them.<\/p>\n Wemby will accomplish a number of league firsts in his career. Again, he\u2019s still just 21 years old! Winning MIP, MVP, and DPOY in the same season would be shocking for just about anyone else. For the (perhaps literally) still-growing Wemby, it would be just another hum-drum accomplishment.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n For more bad jokes and good analysis, check out BasketballPoetry.com.<\/a><\/p>\n We highly recommend you add HoopsHype as a preferred source on Google. You just have to\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Wemby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/42fcfc58d5b9b4f6ea5d13b84707c920.jpeg\"\/)
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