10 wildly overlooked aspects of Wembanyama's historic Rookie of the Year season
By Cal Durrett
6) Wembanyama's defensive impact.
Given that Wembanyama is a towering 7'4 and has an 8-foot arm span, many expected him to make a major impact on the Spurs defense. Although their team stats don't clearly reflect it since they were 29th in defensive rating last season and a slightly more respectable 23rd this season, he has definitely had an effect.
His 3.6 blocks per game is the third highest in NBA history, behind only Manute Bol and Spurs Hall of Famer David Robinson. Not only that but he also averaged 1.2 steals, totaling a staggering 4.8 stocks per game (steal plus blocks). That type of production has drawn plenty of attention, with him having a staggering seven games with at least seven blocks.
That is a seven-block game every 10 games or about three weeks. If counting stats isn't your cup of coffee, Wembanyama has a 105.8 defensive rating. That is comparable to Defensive Player of the Year candidate Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who anchored the team with the best defensive rating in the NBA
Gobert may likely still win the award, but Wembanyama has technically made a bigger impact, even as a rookie, which suggests that he could win quite a few Defensive Player of the Year awards in the near future.