Nekias Duncan and Steve Jones Jr. highlight Wemby’s case to be defensive player of the year for the 2025-2026 NBA Season. Check out the full conversation on “The Dunker Spot” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
Victor Wembanyama is going to want to play.
He wants to be in play for Defensive Player of the Year and MVP, and I think he has strong cases for both.
As we are talking defense, though, I don’t think we have to spend too much time on Victor Wembanyama because he has been absolutely nuts this season, Steve.
He is one of four players among the qualified guys that I have on this list that’s averaging at least one steal and one block.
He’s at 1.1 steals, which is solid.
He’s averaging over three blocks per game, and he’s doing so in under 30 minutes per game.
And as we’ve talked about on this podcast, and as many people have noted, the blocks don’t really tell the full story about what Victor Wembanyama is doing on the interior.
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There are so many possessions where you feel like you have a closeout attack, you are going to the rim, you see Victor Wembanyama and say, “Absolutely not.
I am kicking this ball out to somebody else.”
And so when you have that kind of effect in addition to what he’s actually altering when shot goes up, and what he has meant for the Spurs defense that has been a top five unit pretty much all year long, and when Wemby specifically is on the floor, they become even more ridiculous.
It is very easy, assuming that he winds up eligible for this or remains eligible for this, it’s very easy to note, to have Victor Wembanyama as the Defense Player of the Year, and as such, an easy selection for the All-Defense First Team.
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It’s the command that he’s had for this Spurs team as far as how he communicates, when he communicates, and the fact that teams have tried to put, you know, you have to come with a strategy against Wemby, and he’s had a counter every time.
You know, we pointed out early on, hey, he’s, as a weak side defender, if he’s low, boy, it’s not gonna be fun for you.
And he’s gonna work to make sure, hey, I can stay low.
I can be on that baseline.
I can rotate.
I can, you know, get you to think that you have an opening I can take away real quick.
I can do no-look blocks.
Like, he’s mastered that part.
You wanna put me up– But, but his responses to teams’ counters is where it’s like, okay, this is extremely impressive.
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You wanna put me on the wing?
Fantastic.
I’ll just take the roller anyways, and we’re back to what we wanna do.
You wanna put me in action?
Fantastic.
I can switch and then get back to where, where exactly where I, I need to be.
And so that’s not an easy thing to do, especially as a young player.
So putting that all together, plus how important the defense is to San Antonio, plus the success of the Spurs, for me- Mm-hmm Wemby’s an easy Defensive Player of the Year.
He’s a easy All-Defense First Team, and it’s just not something that you normally see.
You don’t — Normally, you see a player who is such a good base for a defense, maybe they don’t have the same volume, right?
Mm-hmm.
But he has that as well.
He does all of those things- Yeah defensively every single night.