Victor Wembanyama is the runaway favorite to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Across multiple sports books, his odds are -2000 are better to win. Essentially, no one else can surpass Wembanyama unless he fails to meet the 65 games played requirement.
The 7-foot-5 alien is averaging 1.1 steals and 3.8 blocks per game, and the last time someone averaged more blocks was Alonzo Mourning in the 1998-99 season. Mourning would go on to win the DPOY. A lot of players who win the DPOY are the key factor in their team being one of the best defensive teams in the league. For Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spurs are top-six defense when he's on the court, but rank 19th overall.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder — who are the best defensive team in the league — have no one in the conversation. With the way that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander plays on that side, he has a case to win over Wembanyama.
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What is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's case for DPOY?
It is impossible to compete with a player who is averaging 1.1 steals and has the highest block per game average in over a quarter century — but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's general defensive statistics are impressive in their own right. He's second in steals per game at 1.9 and total steals with 100, while also averaging a block per game. Not many point guards have ever averaged at least one steal and block per game.
The areas where Gilgeous-Alexander has Wembanyama beat are the advanced statistics. According to Basketball Reference, Gilgeous-Alexander leads the NBA in defensive win shares with 3.8 versus 3.0 for Wembanyama, a higher defensive box plus-minus at 3.1 versus 2.9 for Wembanyama, and the second-best defensive rating, 104.8 versus 105.7 for Wembanyama.
Individually, the numbers are shockingly close, but another area where Gilgeous-Alexander benefits is that his team is better defensively. The Thunder have the third best defensive rating since the 2018-19 season. Considering how much defensives are limited and the maximizing of offenses, it makes their defensive prowess all the more impressive.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having one of the best seasons we've seen in a long time. Despite him arguably being the MVP, he is statistically the best defender on one of the best defensive teams the NBA has seen in over half a decade.
Victor Wembanyama is having a historically great defensive season, but if you do some digging, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is neck-and-neck with Wemby in a lot of categories, and might statistically a case to be the Defensive Player of the Year.