Victor Wembanyama (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

On May 7, the NBA announced the results of this season’s Rookie Of The Year award. To the surprise of no one, Victor Wembanyama took the prize home with a clean sweep as he received all the 99 votes for first place, which resulted in a 200-point margin from 2nd placed Chet Holmgren.

The Spurs hosted a press meet at Scobee Education Center & Planetarium in San Antonio to celebrate the achievement. To keep up with the spirit of the venue, when Wembanyama was asked what the dark matter was, he seemed elated to be questioned about something different.

“Dark matter is a mass we can’t see, but we know is there because it has influence on gravitational pulls and the speed of gravitational orbits in every galaxy,” said the Frenchman, “Its presence inside galaxies is five times higher than regular matter, so it’s a huge mystery. We can’t see it. We can’t observe it, but we can observe its influence. This is dark matter.”

Wembanyama’s explanation proved that his intellect isn’t only encapsulated within the court and has a thorough grasp of things beyond it. Science and sports in the modern age are intertwined due to the use of tech for analysis and assessment, but Wemby took it to an otherworldly realm.

With the 2024 ROTY award, he became the third Spurs rookie to win the prize, joining David Robinson (1989-90) and Tim Duncan (1997-98). But the youngster showed wisdom beyond his age on the hardwood, and his words also reflected the same when he talked about the future of the Spurs.

Victor Wembanyama Focuses on Spurs’ Improvement

The hype surrounding Wemby was unreal even before he got drafted by the Spurs. In his debut season, the 20-year-old took the league by storm with his lanky build and averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 blocks. But the Spurs could not match his brilliance and ended with a 22-60 record.

During the press meeting, Wembanyama touched onto that stark contrast in performance between him and the franchise and expressed his desire to win. “I want to win as soon as possible,” said Wemby, “I had the responsibility towards my team and the challenge of staying dominant and helpful for the team and also staying healthy.” He further added, “To me, it was bigger than that… This is not enough, I want to keep the momentum going and let everybody know they are part of the family and they are part of the story.”

Wembanyama’s determination to succeed alongside his franchise shows the hunger in the young mind of the center. With the Spurs landing the 4th and the 8th pick for the 2024 NBA Draft, the San Antonio faithful can anticipate the franchise bringing in solid support for their Star boy.