Victor Wembanyama made no secret of it: He wanted to win the Most Valuable Player award. He made his case to the media, based on his defensive impact and scoring.
Then, before Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, he got to watch Shai Gilgeous-Alexander get handed that MVP trophy by Adam Silver.
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“(Wembanyama is) competitive. If you’re a competitor and you see another competitor get rewarded with what you want… we all get motivated by different things,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “As a competitive person, that would be my approach and perspective.”
For the next 58 minutes on the court after the award was handed out, Wembanyama made the case that it’s time to pass him the torch — not the MVP trophy, but the mythical “best player in the world” award. He lifted his young team to a double OT win, 122-115, and a 1-0 series lead.
“The best player in the f****** world,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said of Wembanyama in an interview on NBC.
For the past few years, the conventional wisdom has been that Denver‘s Nikola Jokic is the best player walking the face of the earth — and with good reason, we’ve never seen a player like him. However, in the last couple of seasons, Gilgeous-Alexander has staked his claim for that mythical award: Two MVP awards, an NBA title, a Finals Most Valuable Player, and SGA has been a better defender, too.
Wembanyama took over that narrative with one epic game on Monday night.
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He scored 41 points on 14-of-25 shooting, grabbed 24 rebounds, blocked three shots and either altered or made Thunder players reconsider taking a shot more times than we could count. Wembanyama made just one 3-pointer all game, but there wouldn’t have been a second OT without his shot from the logo.
In the second overtime, Wembanyama got a second wind, scoring 9 points, blocking a shot, and just taking over the game. Wembanyama was clearly the best player on the court. Did seeing the MVP trophy get handed out motivate the 22-year-old Frenchman?
“I’ve still got a lot to learn,” Wembanyama said, via the Associated Press. “And I want to get that trophy many times in my career.”
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So is Wembanyama the best player in the world?
“The world is 8 billion people,” Wembanyama said. “That’s 8 billion opinions.”
Wembanyama made his statement in a game where Gilgeous-Alexander did not look like an MVP much of the night. The San Antonio defense bottled him up. The Spurs learned from the Lakers‘ relative success in the last round and double-teamed SGA, forcing him to give up the ball. The result was that through three quarters Monday night, SGA had just 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
The problem for the Thunder was that when the Lakers did that, other players like Ajay Mitchell and Chet Holmgren stepped up. On Monday, Holmgren and Mitchel combined for 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting. The only other Thunder player who stepped up was Alex Caruso, who had 31 on the night, plus made a number of critical defensive plays.
Gilgeous-Alexander did better when the game got tight, stepping up in the fourth quarter and two overtimes with 14 points and six assists on 4-of-13 shooting.
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In that same window, Wembanyama was just better — 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting with 11 rebounds and two blocks. Wembanyama was the best player on the floor and San Antonio now leads the series 1-0 — if the Spurs just win only their home games the rest of the playoffs, they will be NBA champions.
However all that plays out, Wembanyama has made his statement — he’s the best player in the world. Right now. At age 22, while he is still experimenting on the court and figuring everything out.
After Game 1, who is going to argue with him?
