LeBron James has already put Victor Wembanyama on the MVP track, and the rest of the voters should catch up.
On a recent episode of Mind the Game, LeBron and Steve Nash got into whether this is Wembanyama’s year, and they ended up in the same spot: “I don't see why not.” Nash’s hesitation came in the form of the same concern that is likely to follow Wemby all season - unlike Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Nikola Jokic, he is not always the guy finishing the job.
That’s the old argument hanging over Wembanyama. His value comes from what he does over 30-plus minutes, not just the final five.
Nash is right about how MVP voting usually works, but he’s also pointing to a flaw in the way the award gets talked about. Wembanyama is the kind of player who should force that conversation to change.
The MVP case should not be reduced to who gets the final shot. That was part of Nash’s own answer on the podcast, when he brought up Bill Russell, who won five MVPs without ever being the player everyone handed the ball to at the end. Shaquille O’Neal fits the same mold.
During his MVP years, O’Neal had Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and other Lakers helping close games. He still won because he was dominant from start to finish, no matter who took the last shot. That is the lane Wembanyama is driving into.
The numbers back up just how rare the season has been. Wembanyama is the first player to average 25 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks since Shaq in his 1999-2000 MVP season.
And the biggest problem with treating “closer” as the defining trait is that it’s an offense-only idea. It counts the ball handler and the bucket-getter. It does not count the drive that gets cut off before it starts because a 7-foot-4 force is sitting in the lane, or the jumper a guard never gets comfortable taking because he knows what’s waiting in front of him.
That is Wembanyama’s impact. It lives in the possessions that never become shots, which is exactly why it gets overlooked.
The Western Conference Finals already showed what that looks like when the stakes were at their highest. In a seven-game series against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the 22-year-old Wembanyama and SGA in his prime both delivered. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 in Game 7, but Wembanyama still took home the Magic Johnson Trophy after putting up 27 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks while shooting 40% from deep.
He also became the first player in league history to finish a series with 15 made threes and 15 blocks. The Spurs were plus-62 with him on the floor. Game after game, possession after possession, the gap was obvious.
If the league wants to reserve the word “closing” for late-game offense, it already has a trophy for that now: Clutch Player of the Year.
There is still room to argue that Wembanyama needs to improve as an isolation scorer. He has said that himself.
But that is a ceiling conversation, not a reason to leave him out of the MVP race. He is already giving you 25 points a night while becoming the first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in NBA history.
Back in March, Victor said defense is half the game and undervalued in the race. That was true then, and it is true now. The burden is on the voters to see the whole player, both ends included, and decide accordingly.
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