The NBA released the voting on Tuesday with Victor getting 86 first-team votes — second to only Rudy Gobert.
After a phenomenal rookie season, capped by a unanimous Rookie of the Year award, Victor Wembanyama has reached rarified air, becoming the first rookie in NBA history to be selected to the Kia NBA All-Defensive First Team. Wembanyama is just the sixth rookie in the 61 years since the accolade’s inception to make any all-defensive team, joining the likes of fellow Spurs, first overall picks, and Rookie of the Year winners Tim Duncan (1998) and David Robinson (1990).
Wembanyama’s career trajectory thus far has mirrored that of the two Hall-of-Famers. His 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game were nearly on par with Robinson’s 3.9 blocks and 1.7 steals in his rookie season and both were higher than Duncan’s 2.7 and 0.7 in his rookie season. With the Spurs going 22-60 this season, Wembanyama did not enjoy the same team success that Duncan and Robinson did during their rookie years – both of which oddly ended in 56-26 regular seasons and getting bounced in the Western Conference Semis for the Spurs.
Had San Antonio’s season been more successful, the runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year voting, Victor Wembanyama, likely would’ve garnered more first-place votes for DPOY than the 19 he received. The stats and accolades support the notion that Wembanyama is on pace to share the team success of his Hall of Fame predecessors soon. His historic selection to the All-Defensive First Team highlights his prowess on the defensive end, hints at a promising future for Spurs fans, and solidifies the 20-year-old as one of the NBA’s elite defensive talents.
Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Herb Jones (New Orleans Pelicans), Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers), and Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves) were the others to round out the All-Defensive First Team. It was the first all-defensive team selection for Herb Jones and the first selection to the first team for Bam Adebayo after five previous second-team selections. For Gobert, it was his seventh first-team selection out of seven, and for Davis, his third first-team selection.
The NBA All-Defensive Second Team consists of Jrue Holiday (Boston Celtics), Jalen Suggs (Orlando Magic), Alex Caruso (Chicago Bulls), Derrick White (Boston Celtics), and Jaden McDaniels (Minnesota Timberwolves). It’s the first year in recent memory where the all-defensive first team has had no guards, while the second team is primarily guards except for Minnesota’s McDaniels, the sole forward named to the squad.
As always, some notably effective defenders were left off the all-defensive teams, with only ten players able to make it each year. The most surprising snub was fellow rookie Chet Holmgren, who was third this season in blocks per game with 2.3 and fifth in defensive rating with 108.4. His teammate on the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, led the league in steals per game with 2.0 and was second in blocks amongst guards at 0.9 per game. Giannis Antetokounmpo averaged 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game while anchoring an underperforming Bucks defense. Even Jokic, not normally known for his defense, finished the season third in defensive rating at 108.0 and averaged 1.4 steals and nearly a block per game.
These players were all equally as statistically deserving as some of the others who made the teams, met the new 65-game threshold for all-defensive teams this year, and Giannis, Chet, and Shai even received a few votes but ultimately fell short of a selection.