Spurs' Victor Wembanyama firmly claims that he's NBA MVP over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
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Spurs' Victor Wembanyama firmly claims that he's NBA MVP over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
A lot of basketball fans still think that the NBA MVP race is up in the air. As of the moment, there are three clear names who are in the running for the Michael Jordan trophy: Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Los Angeles Lakers' Luka Doncic, and San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama. One of these three is not like the others and he just made his case for why the voters should pick him.
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Spurs' Wembanyama knows he deserves the NBA MVP
As of the moment, the NBA MVP ladder has SGA at the top and as a runaway winner. The other candidates who follow him have been quite a mixed bag in the past few weeks. Cade Cunningham was once thought to be a contender but a collapsed lung will likely prevent that from happening. Doncic, on the other hand, has led the Lakers to a late-season resurgence to firmly get a grip of the Western Conference third seed. Wembanyama has also done his best to stay healthy all season in order to get the Spurs in the second seed.
It is very clear that Wembanyama has more of a defensive impact than the other candidates. The Spurs star argued just that and then some additional facts for why he should be the NBA MVP, via Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
"My first one would be that defense is 50 percent of the game and that is undervalued, so far, in the MVP race. I believe I’m the most impactful player defensively in the league. Second argument would be that we almost swept OKC in the season and we dominated them three times with their real team and four times with the, you know, more rotation players. My third argument would be that offense impact is not just points," Wembanyama posits.
The Spurs star does make a point here. He is constantly on the move on both sides of the ball and it does not reflect much on the box score. Wembanyama screens for teammates, boxes out for other Spurs players to get rebounds, knows when to double team or hard show on defensive schemes, and also just has an offensive gravity that collapses opposing defenses.
When the stat sheet is considered, the Spurs superstar shines even more. Wembanyama leads the league with his three blocks per game and 4.4 defensive win shares. He also has the highest defensive rating by a long shot that clocks in at 101.5. Chet Holmgren trails him at a defensive rating of just 104.1. Not to mention, he also currently ranks in 15th in the league with his 24.3 points average and fifth when it comes to his 11.2 rebounds per game.
There is a lot to consider about Wembanyama's greatness and is surely on par, even better at times, than Gilgeous-Alexander's. Will the Spurs be able to sway votes so that they get their first NBA MVP since Tim Duncan in 2003?