Victor Wembanyama makes history with First-Team All-Defensive Team selection

The San Antonio Spurs churn out incredible big men like butter anytime they have the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, and Victor Wembanyama is the most recent example.  

We are starting to run out of adjectives and superlatives to adequately encapsulate how legendary Wembanyama's performance was during his first year in the NBA.

Wembanyama rewrote record books en route to becoming the first unanimous Rookie of the Year since Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves did it in 2015-16. He made additional history on Tuesday when he received All-Defensive First Team honors.

After finishing as the runner-up to now four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, Wembanyama fittingly was voted as one of the five best defenders in basketball. He is the first rookie to ever make an All-Defense First Team, dating back to the inception of the recognition in the 1968-69, per the official NBA communications account on X (formerly known as Twitter). 

Victor Wembanyama makes history with First-Team All-Defensive Team selection

Five renowned first-year players qualified for All-Defense before Wembanyama, including four Hall of Famers and legendary Spurs players like Tim Duncan and David Robinson, but none made the first team. Being on a list featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon means he evidently is doing something right.

Already one of the best defenders in the Association because of his 7-foot-4 height, 8-foot wingspan and incredible instincts, Wembanyama led the league in total blocks (254) and swats per game (3.6). Utah Jazz big man Walker Kessler and Brook Lopez of the Milwaukee Bucks were the next-closest players on the list (2.4)

MVP Nikola Jokic and fellow First Team All-Defense member Anthony Davis were the only two centers who recorded more total steals than Wemby in 2023-24. Moreover, the Spurs phenom ranked in the top 10 in total deflections (205) and on a per-game basis (2.9).

Additionally, Wembanyama averaged a combined 4.81 steals and blocks per game -- the most "stocks" by any player in a single season since Ben Wallace did it in 2001-02, per ESPN's Andrew Lopez. If that wasn't enough, opponents shot 46.1 percent against Wembanyama on 16.7 nightly attempts.

Countless stats can quantify how remarkable of a defensive season Wembanyama had as a rookie. The scary part is he is only 20 years old and will continue to improve as his body fills out and he gets more reps.