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San Antonio Spurs star big man Victor Wembanyama was unanimously named NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the 2025-26 season, and he did so in historic fashion.
Wembanyama, the 7ft 4in phenom, became the youngest player to win the prestigious award at just 22 years old. Even better, he’s the first to win the award unanimously, and rightly so.
Wembanyama was a problem with and without the ball in his hands this season.
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San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama plays during the second half against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on April 4, 2026. (Ron Chenoy/Image Images)
He earned 100 first-place votes for the award, and Chet Holmgren of the Oklahoma City Thunder finished with 76 second-place votes. Detroit Pistons guard Ausar Thompson finished in third place when the votes were counted.
The next closest player to a unanimous Defensive Player of the Year victory was Ben Wallace during the 2001-02 season, where he finished four votes short of the 120-person panel.
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While Wembanyama is also a finalist for the league MVP award, this one in particular is something he has been looking to add to his career trophy collection.
Wembanyama was a rookie in 2024 when fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert won his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award. However, Wembanyama, the Spurs’ first overall pick, said Gobert’s days as the league’s best defenseman would come to an end at some point.
I hoped it was from his hand. And although he failed to win the award last season after only playing 36 games, Wembanyama made sure to keep his word this year.
“I know Rudy has a good chance of winning it this year, and he would deserve it,” Wembanyama said at the time, according to ESPN. “Let him win now, because later it’s not his turn.”
Wembanyama’s prediction came true after he led the NBA in blocks with 197 on the season, marking the second consecutive year he has been atop that category on the league’s stat sheet. He also had 66 steals and finished with a defensive rating of 110.4, second best in the NBA.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama plays during the first half against the Dallas Mavericks at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, on April 10, 2026. (Scott Wachter/Image Images)
“All that [he’s] What’s been achieved so far has been earned and never given,” Spurs teammate Keldon Johnson said of Wembanyama. “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met. He takes his craft very seriously and I feel like this is just a small taste of what’s in store for Victor. “He is a special player on the court and an even more special person off the court.”
Of course, defending isn’t just about forcing turnovers, as Wembanyama used his tall stature to grab the second-most defensive rebounds in the NBA (9.5), behind only Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. Jokic and Wembanyama join the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the three MVP finalists, with the latter hoping to repeat after the entire 2024-25 campaign.
Wembanyama has become the presence on both ends of the court that the Spurs always envisioned when they won the NBA Draft lottery. Spurs veteran guard De’Aaron Fox knows players won’t even shoot the ball when they see it in front of them.
Victor Wembanyama (1) of the San Antonio Spurs is on the court during their game against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on March 17, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
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“You talk about guys changing shots. It literally denies guys from even shooting the ball,” he said via ESPN. “They’ll see him there and he’ll dribble the ball or he’ll kick it. It changes the whole dynamic of your defense and changes the dynamic of the other team’s offense.”
Wembanyama and the Spurs also got off to a strong start in their first trip to the NBA Playoffs since the 2018-19 season, defeating the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday to open their First Round series with a victory, 111-98. Wembanyama finished the game leading the team with 35 points (13 of 21 shooting) with five rebounds, one assist and two blocks.
