On Monday night, it became official: San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama won the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year Award after an outstanding debut season. Wembanyama won the award in unanimous fashion, which speaks volumes to how well he finished his rookie campaign that the debate as to who was more deserving of winning the award between him and Chet Holmgren didn’t end up being much of a debate at all.
Wembanyama is only 20 years old, and his two-way excellence is already reaching historic levels. Thus, former Coach of the Year award winner George Karl warned the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets that they must make the most of their current championship window as it won’t be long before Wembanyama and the Spurs come for their heads.
“Teams like the Nuggets and Wolves better get what they can in the West the next couple years. Cause Wemby is coming and his teams will soon be an unstoppable force,” Karl wrote on his official Twitter (X) account.
At the very least, the stage if set for either of the Timberwolves or Nuggets to win big this season; the former, in particular, appears to be in complete control of their second-round series against the latter in this year’s playoffs. Meanwhile, Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs won just 22 games in his rookie campaign.
Nonetheless, Wembanyama improved exponentially the deeper he went into his rookie season. There’s no telling how much better he can be as he gains more experience, and with that said, there’s no telling as well just how high the heights the Spurs can reach with a more actualized version of Wembanyama leading the way.
Victor Wembanyama — from Holmgren’s shadow to rookie greatness
To start the season, Victor Wembanyama fell under Chet Holmgren’s shadow as Holmgren proved to be the missing piece that allowed the Oklahoma City Thunder to emerge as one of the best teams in the association. Meanwhile, Wembanyama’s impact wasn’t as instant as fans hoped, and the Spurs struggled immensely in the first few weeks of his career.
But Wembanyama figured out the NBA game rather quickly, and he racked up insane defensive stats as if he was playing against 15-year olds in the rec center. After every game of his, it seemed like he was breaking records. His offensive game was a bit rough around the edges, as he turned the ball over more often than one would like, and his scoring efficiency needs work too. But his pull-up game, particularly from three, already made him one of the most dangerous threats in the league from the perimeter given how difficult it is to contest his shots at his size.
Wembanyama finished the season averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.6 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game — a cheat code for fantasy basketball players. The Spurs played much better to end the season as well; they won seven of their final 11 games, including major wins over playoff teams in the Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, and New York Knicks, while they also pulled an epic comeback victory over a Nuggets team that was fighting for playoff positioning.
The Spurs roster still needs a lot of work before they can legitimately threaten for a playoff spot, let alone a championship. But the most important part of building a championship roster is to find a foundational superstar. Victor Wembanyama is that guy. The hope now is that he doesn’t suffer injury problems that would threaten to derail his career.
Spurs’ roster building questions
At present, the Spurs roster remains in flux. They have a few quality young players in Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan, and Keldon Johnson, while Tre Jones projects to be a solid rotation piece on a winning team thanks to his excellent playmaking skills. But the roster around Victor Wembanyama remains mostly barebones.
The Spurs badly need a two-way wing who can create his own shot, and a top-tier floor general would elevate the team even further as Wembanyama would need a playmaker who is a scoring threat as well to be at his best.
One famous suggestion is for the Spurs to pursue a trade for Trae Young; Young’s defensive shortcomings won’t stick out as much with Wembanyama cleaning up his mistakes, and Young, for all his faults, averaged 26-11 for a mediocre Atlanta Hawks team this past season. But the Spurs appear to be content in building around Wembanyama slowly.
This would allow the Spurs to stack up on young talent who could grow alongside Wembanyama, avoiding the roster-building problem LeBron James and Luka Doncic, among others, posed on their teams when they became too good too quickly, preventing the team from building from the draft.
