Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama ‘Cares Deeply’ About Winning MVP

Unlike Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama is not afraid to campaign for the NBA MVP award.

After dropping 41 points and 18 rebounds in Wednesday’s 127-113 win over the Golden State Warriors, Wemby didn’t mince words when asked about his desire to win MVP.

“I do care deeply about it,” Wemby told “SC with SVP” about chasing his first Michael Jordan Trophy.

“I think that of the greats that are in the Hall of Fame — or the best of all time — they have fought and grabbed everything they could grab early on in their career.

“If I want to make my spot among the greats, I got to try to not miss any occasion to put my name up there,” added the Spurs phenom.

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Luka Doncic Won’t Campaign for MVP

Wemby has been actively campaigning for the MVP award for several weeks, a stance that fellow candidates Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic have refused to take.

On Tuesday, Doncic was asked if he wished to make a case for him to win MVP — much like Wemby did by listing out three bullet points

“I never did that,” Doncic said after dropping 42 points against the Cavs on Tuesday.

“I’m not the one voting, so, you know, but I think I’ve been playing pretty good. We’ve been winning. That’s it. That’s all I gotta say.”

Elsewhere, SGA said he’d rather let his game do the talking for him.

Many analysts view the MVP race as a two-horse race between SGA and Wemby, even though some pundits believe Doncic deserves more consideration.

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Wemby MVP Odds

SGA (-300) remains the slight favorite over Wemby (+220), followed by Doncic (+1500), Nikola Jokic (+600), and Jaylen Brown (+2500), per DraftKings.

However, those odds could shift if Wemby continues his current streak, which includes at least 40 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks in three straight games, and five consecutive games with at least 15 rebounds — the longest streak by a Spurs player since Dennis Rodman in 1995. Additionally, Wemby is the first Spurs player ever to record two consecutive 40-point double-doubles.

When those accolades were laid out to Wemby, he was in awe of his recent run.

“Wow,” Wembanyama said of the statistic. “I watched a lot of highlights [of Rodman], mostly on the Bulls than anything else. They don’t make them like [him] anymore.”

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Wemby winning his first MVP award this year, praising the young Spurs star’s growth.

“He’s got unbelievable confidence now,” Kerr said of Wemby.

“He looks like he knows exactly what to do on both ends. His first couple years, he looked young at times. He doesn’t look young anymore. He just looks like he knows exactly what he’s doing. Dominated the glass. There’s plays you can’t do anything. Several lobs where it looked like a Nerf hoop. He’s brilliant.”

Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan