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San Antonio Spurs star big man, Victor Wembanyama, was unanimously named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for the 2025-26 season, and he did so in historic fashion.
Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 phenom, became the youngest player to ever win the prestigious award at just 22 years old. Even better, he is the first to ever win the award unanimously, and for good reason.
Wembanyama was a problem with, and without, the ball in his hands this season.
He earned all 100 first-place votes for the award, with Oklahoma City Thunder’s Chet Holmgren finishing with 76 second-place votes. Detroit Pistons guard Ausar Thompson finished in third place when the ballots were tallied.
The next-closest player to getting a unanimously victory for Defensive Player of the Year was Ben Wallace during the 2001-02 season, where he finished four votes shy in the 120-person panel.
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While Wembanyama is also a finalist for the league’s MVP award, this one in particular is something he’s been looking to add to his career trophy collection.
Wembanyama was a rookie in 2024 when Rudy Gobert, his fellow French compatriot, won his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award. However, Wembanyama, the first overall pick by the Spurs, said Gobert’s days as the best defender in the league would be coming to an end at some point.
He expected it to be by his hand. And though he wasn’t able to win award last season after only playing 36 games, Wembanyama made sure to follow through on his word this year.
“I know that Rudy has a very good chance of winning it this year, and it would be deserved,” Wembanyama said at the time, per ESPN. “Let him win it now, because after that, it’s no longer his turn.”
Wembanyama’s prediction came true after he led the NBA in blocks with 197 on the season, marking the second consecutive year he’s been atop that category on the league’s stat sheet. He also notched 66 steals and finished with a 110.4 defensive rating, which was second-best in the NBA.
“Everything that [he’s] achieved so far has been earned and never given,” Spurs teammate Keldon Johnson said of Wembanyama. “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever been around. He takes his craft very seriously and I feel like this is just a small token of what’s to come for Victor. He’s a special player on the court and an even more special person off the court.”
Of course, defending isn’t all about forcing turnovers, as Wembanyama used his tall stature to haul in the second-most defensive rebounds in the NBA (9.5), which was only behind Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic. Jokic and Wembanyama join the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the three MVP finalist, with the latter hoping to repeat after quite the 2024-25 campaign.
Wembanyama has developed into the presence on both ends of the court the Spurs always envisioned when they won the NBA Draft lottery. Spurs veteran guard De’Aaron Fox knows that players won’t even shoot the ball when they see him in front of them.
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“You talk about guys that change shots. He literally negates guys even shooting the ball,” he said, via ESPN. “They’ll see him in there and dribble the ball out or kick out. He changes the whole dynamic of your defense, and he changes the dynamic of other team’s offense.”
Wembanyama and the Spurs also got off to a good start in their first trip to the NBA Playoffs since the 2018-19 season, taking down the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday to open their First Round series with a win, 111-98. Wembanyama finished the game with a team-leading 35 points (13-of-21 shooting) with five rebounds, one assist and two blocks.
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