Victor Wembanyama ponders where NBA awards threshold should lie while doing lightning-quick math postgame
Victor Wembanyama’s numbers are absurd. The 22-year-old, 7-foot-4 San Antonio Spurs center is averaging 25 points, 11.5 rebounds and a league-leading 3.1 blocks per game.
But maybe more impressive are the numbers in his head.
Because the French native wowed with lightning-quick math Friday night while discussing the NBA’s 65-game minimum required for awards eligibility.
“Of course, the alien gets all of it right,” a reporter said as Wembanyama made a series of calculations on the fly while mulling his stance on the subject.
The exchange began in the wake of Wembanyama’s 40-point, 13-rebound performance, which helped his now-62-win Spurs defeat the Dallas Mavericks 139-120. While securing his fifth 40-piece of the season, Wembanyama logged his 65th qualifying appearance, meaning he’ll officially be eligible for yearly awards, including NBA MVP.
The third-year Spurs frontcourt standout was in danger of missing the 65-game threshold after sustaining a left rib contusion in an April 6 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. He sat out only one contest before returning to action on Friday versus the Mavs, a game he later said he “would, for sure, not have played” if he had already qualified for end-of-year awards consideration.
In a postgame discussion with reporters, Wembanyama processed the fact that Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards and Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić are all currently ineligible for this season’s NBA awards (Dončić, though, is challenging the rule).
“If those three aren’t — I mean, especially Cade and Luka — in the end-of-season awards, for sure it’s not going to reflect their impact on the season,” Wembanyama said, via The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. “But, at the same time, in my opinion, it’s good to have a threshold, a limit. Where do we need to put it? I don’t know. It’s a good question.”
Then Wembanyama asked the assembled media a question.
“What percentage of the season … do you think should be the limit?” he said.
One reporter suggested 75-80%. Another countered with two-thirds, in other words around 67%. Some said 70%. One chimed in that they don’t think there should be a minimum.
That’s when a contemplative Wembanyama became a human calculator.
“If a guy plays 50 games, 35 minutes a game, that’s 50 times 35 — that’s 1,750 [minutes], right? Is that about right?” Wembanyama said. “If a guy plays 75 games at 20 minutes, it’s 1,500 [minutes]. So it’s a good view, in my opinion, to not have a limit. It’s one opinion.
“Seventy-five percent of the games, in my opinion, would be a logical thing, and that would be 61.5 games, right? So, 62 games.”
You can do the math yourself if you want, but it all checks out. The reporters in the room informed Wembanyama of that as well, and he chuckled.
Soon after, he snapped back into analysis mode.
“So, there’s some interesting questions,” Wembanyama said, via Weiss. “But I think, obviously, I don’t think there’s going to be an exception made for this year. I think it’d be somewhat unfair, but we’ll see how it turns out.”
The Spurs’ big man has been in the running for NBA MVP throughout the season and has made his case, although in an anonymous players poll run by The Athletic, the reigning MVP, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, garnered the most votes to win the league’s most prestigious award this season.
Wembanyama’s math skills won’t help his MVP résumé, but they’re another notch on his gargantuan belt.
