Victor Wembanyama shone yet again in the San Antonio Spurs‘ 136-111 win over the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center on Monday. Wembanyama racked up 26 points (11-22 FG), 15 rebounds, four assists, and five blocks in 26 minutes against the Heat and made it clear in his postgame press conference that he believes he should be the MVP frontrunner.
“I think right now there is a debate,” Wembanayama said. “There should be, even though I think I should lead the race. And I’m trying to make sure that until the end of the season, there’s no debate anymore.”
Wembanyama had previously declared that his goal was to win MVP and DPOY. The 22-year-old is a lock to win DPOY if he meets the 65-game requirement. Wembanyama is by far and away the best defender in the NBA. He’d have won the award last year as well, but he only played in 46 games.
As for MVP, well, the race appears to have come down to Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Luka Doncic right now. Gilgeous-Alexander is widely regarded as the favorite to win it, as he has been great and his Oklahoma City Thunder boast a league-best 57-15 record.
The Spurs aren’t too far behind, though, at 54-18. There is definitely a case to be made for Wembanyama, and he was asked here to give three points as part of his campaign speech.
“My first one would be that defense is 50% of the game and that it is undervalued so far in the MVP race because I believe I’m the most impactful player defensively in the league,” Wembanyama said. “Second argument would be that we almost swept OKC in the season, and we dominated them three times with their real team and four times with more rotation players.
“And my third argument would be that offense impact is not just points,” Wembanyama added.
Historically, defensive impact hasn’t been considered nearly as much as it perhaps should have when it comes to MVP. Will it change this time around? Well, the gap between the best and second-best defender in the NBA has probably never been bigger than it is today.
Wembanyama is averaging 24.3 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.0 steals, and 3.0 blocks per game for the Spurs in 2025-26. The only reason that number isn’t higher when it comes to blocks is that teams tend to avoid shooting near the rim when this 7’4″ center is in the vicinity.
Wembanyama is forcing offenses to adjust in a way that no other player has. Even the mighty Thunder have had problems going up against him.
The Spurs won the first three meetings between the teams this season, and after the third game on Dec. 25, 2025, Thunder star Jalen Williams made an honest admission. When asked what the Spurs do to put them off their game, Williams pointed to them having Wembanyama. He said the Frenchman covers up any defensive mistakes his teammates make, and then offensively, they play together as a group.
The Thunder would then win the fourth meeting, but the Spurs emerged victorious in the fifth. They won the season series 4-1, and to give some context on how ridiculous that is, only one other team in the NBA has beaten the Thunder more than once so far this season. That is the Minnesota Timberwolves, who went 2-2 against them.
The Spurs have very much been the Thunder’s Kryptonite because of Wembanyama. Should all of this make him the MVP? Well, it seems unlikely he’ll win, but former NBA player Brian Scalabrine put forth another reason why he should on NBA Showtime.
“I think Wemby is the most impactful player I have ever seen,” Scalabrine said. “And that goes with every possession that he’s on the floor. You have to deal with him… Historically, the MVP has always been the greatest on/off. When it was [Nikola] Jokic, he won MVP, last year, it was SGA. When he’s on the floor, one of the best teams in the NBA; when he is off the floor, the Spurs are like a lottery team.
“Wemby right now leads the league in net rating on/off,” Scalabrine added. ” And also using SGA as the benchmark, he is 4-1 against SGA, and he’s a +50 in those matchups against Oklahoma City. I know the odds, if I had a vote, I would still vote for Wemby.”
Wembanyama also has a 16.6 net rating this season, the best among players who have played at least 20 games and have averaged at least 20 minutes a night. There are definitely a fair few arguments you can make, but time will tell who comes out on top.
We’ll see Wembanyama in action next when the Spurs take on the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
