Victor Wembanyama played 25 minutes in Phoenix on Monday, scored 40 points, and spent the end of a 122-96 win on the bench because the game was already decided. If you think the short night is a reason to keep him out of the MVP conversation, you have the math upside down. He's the clear front-runner right now, and those 25 minutes are why.
Start with what happened. He went 15 of 19 from the floor, added 11 rebounds, three assists and eight or nine blocks. By halftime he already had 22 points, six rebounds and five blocks, and the Spurs had ripped off a 21-2 run to lead 61-46. The starters got pulled with about nine minutes left because San Antonio was up more than 30. He could have chased a bigger number. He had no reason to.
This was the second time in four games he produced something like this. Earlier in the week he dropped 52 points and 24 rebounds on Dallas in a one-point win, and afterward he said he'd been sick: "I haven't been feeling great lately. So it should be more like this, more often." He was unwell for one of the best lines of the season, then came back days later and torched Phoenix in a quarter-game's worth of minutes.
Rating
RatingVoters could ding him for the workload: fewer minutes means his raw totals sit lower, and plenty of voters treat a heavy workload as part of a player's value. That's a real factor for some of them. For this player it doesn't hold up. If Wembanyama is posting 40-point, double-digit-rebound, near-double-digit-block games in the time it takes most stars to get warm, the Spurs are winning by so much that he physically can't stay on the floor long enough to pad the stat sheet. Picking a most valuable player and then holding his own team's dominance against him doesn't add up.
The betting market already sees it. He came into the season as the favorite, reclaimed the top spot after the Dallas game, and sat well clear of Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo heading into the Suns game. The odds hadn't caught up to Phoenix yet, but it's not hard to guess which way they moved.
RTGHis jumper is the real knock. He's hitting threes at a low clip this season and has been poor from mid-range. The case for him rests on defense, rebounding and scoring at the rim. He even went 2 of 3 from three against the Suns, so Monday patched the one leak. When the biggest complaint about a player is the one skill he hasn't mastered yet, that's what an MVP case looks like.
Devin Booker scored 32 and lost by 26, then called Wembanyama "something like we've never seen before." His own coach described a player scoring from all three levels, with teammates simply throwing the ball to the top of the backboard whenever he drew a switch. Opponents are reaching for the language of disbelief. Wembanyama kept his quieter: "It feels like where I want to be." The Spurs have won nine straight, he's 22, and the only people still calling his MVP case a debate are the ones counting his minutes instead of watching them.
