Just when you think that after a great rookie season, there couldn’t be another remarkable achievement in Victor Wembanyama’s career, you’re proven wrong. The young Frenchman was, according to many, supposed to win the Defensive Player of the Year award ahead of his compatriot Rudy Gobert.
Nevertheless, he has been named to the league’s All-Defensive First Team alongside Gobert, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, and Herb Jones. Four out of the five players cover center positions, which might be a bit surprising, but it’s certainly deservedly so for Wembanyama.
This season, Wembanyama finished top-10 in total deflections (205), defensive rebounds per game (8.4), total defensive rebounds (594) and defensive rebound percentage (27.3%). The 20-year-old is the first player to average at least 10.0 rebounds, 3.00 blocks and 1.00 steals since Marcus Camby in 2007.
First rookie to make first team All-Defense and the youngest in NBA history
In addition, the 2023-24 Rookie of the Year had an NBA-best 20 games with multiple blocks and multiple steals on the way to 342 combined blocks and steals, becoming the first Rookie with 300+ “stocks” in a season since Shaquille O’Neal in 1992-93. He also joins Scottie Pippen as the only players in NBA history with 300+ blocks/steals and 100+ threes in a single season.
Victor Wembanyama registered eight games with 7-or-more blocks, the most by a rookie since David Robinson. Among those eight, on Feb. 12 at Toronto, Wembanyama blocked a career-best 10 shots, including 6 shots in the third quarter, the most in a quarter by any player in 2023-24 and tied for the most blocks in a quarter by a rookie all-time. In back-to-back nights in Sacramento and Los Angeles on Feb. 22-23, he joined Michael Jordan as the second player in league history to have 5 steals and 5 blocks in consecutive games.
He is the first rookie to make first team All-Defense and the youngest in NBA history. The last NBA rookie named to an all-defensive team is Tim Duncan on the 1997-98 second team.