Victor Wembanyama projected to win at least two awards in second season

A year after unanimously winning the Rookie of the Year award, Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama is projected to win at least two pieces of hardware in his sophomore season.

A list of ESPN insiders has predicted that Wemby will win not only the Defensive Player of the Year award — an award he finished second in as a rookie — but also the Most Improved Player of the 2024-25 season.

To pick the French big man to win the DPOY is not a hot take, considering he became the first rookie in history to make an All-Defensive First Team last year.

However, the award for Most Improved is typically given to players who take a massive leap between seasons, not to players who are expected to continue on their star trajectory. For instance, it was a remarkable improvement when Pascal Siakam upped his production by nearly 10 points (7.3 to 16.9) between the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons or when Lauri Markkanen jumped from a 14.8 PPG role player in Chicago to a 25.6 PPG star for the Jazz in 2022-23.

Those were examples of marked improvements.

Seeing as Wemby averaged 21.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.9 blocks as a rookie, it's almost expected that there will be an uptick in his production across the board. To qualify for Most Improved, the 7-footer may have to see his PPG increase to nearly 28 or 29 — a long shot if we're being fair.

The ESPN panel picked Thunder's Jalen Williams, the Bulls' Coby White and the Pistons' Cade Cunningham as other candidates to win the award, a year after the Sixers' Tyrese Maxey clinched it.

If the prediction comes true, Wemby's dual hardware would add to his growing list of honors, which include an Olympic silver medal, NBA Rookie of the Year, All-Defensive First Team and All-Rookie First Team. Some have jokingly suggested that the Defensive Player of the Year award could eventually be named the Victor Wembanyama Award in light of how many trophies he could rack up in his career.

Wembanyama will turn 21 next January.