San Antonio Spurs rookie Victory Wembanyama is fine with Rudy Gobert beating him out for the Defense Player of the Year Award, but only for now.
“I know that Rudy (Gobert) has a very good chance of winning it this year, and it would be deserved. Let him win it now, because after that it’s no longer his turn,” Wembanyama said Thursday, per Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News.
Gobert won three Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Utah Jazz in 2019, 2019 and 2022 and could be on track for a fourth with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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The Timberwolves have the top-ranked defense in the league in large part thanks to Gobert, who has an NBA-high defensive rating of 104.2.
Gobert may be one of eight players averaging two blocks per game, but Wembanyama is making a case for himself by outreaching Gobert and leading the NBA with 3.4 blocks per game.
Wembanyama’s case is hurt, however, by the Spurs’ 14-52 record and bottom-six defensive rating.
The Spurs rookie may need to wait for his team’s overall record to improve before he can campaign for DPOY, but there’s little doubt Wembanyama will be a contender in the near future.
For now, Gobert heads into the final stretch of the regular season as the DraftKings favorite to win the award.