In the closest Most Valuable Player (MVP) race we might ever see, three supreme talents are battling for the league’s most coveted award. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged one of the most efficient volume shooting seasons we have ever seen with 33 points a night on insane splits of 55% from 2-point range, 38% from deep and 87% from the free throw line. Then there’s Nikola Jokic, the unstoppable offensive engine, who in any other year would be the consensus MVP, averaging a ridiculous 28-point triple-double. 

However, there’s a newcomer in the MVP conversation, and he’s landed in southern Texas. Victor Wembanyama, in his first full season, is averaging 25 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks per night, anchoring a top-10 defense, leading the Spurs to the two seed and their first playoff appearance in almost a decade. 

Wembenyama isn’t just putting up insane numbers, but he’s doing so on historic lows in minutes played, notching just under 30 minutes per contest. A large part of this was because San Antonio was so dominant with Wemabanyama on the court; the big man sat for almost half of the Spurs’ 4th-quarter minutes. 

While MVP favorite Gilgeous-Alexander may be averaging one of the highest-scoring guard seasons on phenomenal efficiency from every spot on the court, his team won four fewer games this season despite his heroics, while San Antonio rose from a team three spots out of Play-In contention to a real, legitimate title contender. This would not be possible without Wembanyama’s historic stat lines that put him in the same circle as the best big men of all time with Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon. 

Wemebanyama’s Defensive Player of the Year-winning impact on the other side of the floor can not be understated, with even the greatest shooters on earth like Kyrie Irving going on record saying they’d rather pass to a teammate further away than risk a shot getting wiped off the glass by the 7’4 Frenchman. On top of the sheer psychological terror Wembanyama inspires in shooters, it’s statistically proven too: offenses shoot on average 8.9% worse and nearly 10 points worse when Wembanyama is on the floor.

The man can really do it all; he stretches the court on offense, condenses it on defense and is single-handedly bending the game to the will of a man who looks like he’s playing on a bedroom door hoop and not the most elite level of basketball in the world. His greatness has only started to emerge, and it’s safe to say the next 10 Defensive Player of the Year Awards and years of the league are his.