Victor Wembanyama Dropped 40 in 26 Minutes Just to Qualify for Awards. He Might Win All of Them.

Victor Wembanyama needed one more game. One more game to hit 65 and officially qualify for every postseason award the NBA hands out. So what did he do? He dropped 40 points in 26 minutes. Because of course he did.

40 points. 13 rebounds. 5 assists. 2 blocks. 1 steal. In 26 minutes. Against the Mavericks. The Spurs won 139-120 and it wasn't even that close.

According to the NBA, that's the fastest 40-point, 10-rebound, 5-assist game in league history. Ever. Not "since the merger." Not "for a player under 22." In the entire history of the sport. Nobody has ever done what Wembanyama did on Friday night that quickly.

He also tied David Robinson for the most 40-point, 10-rebound games in a single season in Spurs history with five. The Admiral needed a full career of dominance to set that record. Wemby matched it in his second year.

I keep having to remind myself this man is 21 years old.

The numbers are stupid.

25.0 points per game. 11.5 rebounds. 3.1 blocks. 51.2% from the field. He's shooting 34.9% from three at 7-foot-4. His free throw percentage is 82.7%. These are not real numbers for a human being that tall. They just aren't.

And the blocks — 3.1 per game, nearly 50 percent higher than second-place Chet Holmgren. He has 16 games this season with at least 25 points and 4 blocks. The most by any player. He's not just blocking shots. He's erasing entire possessions. He's making professional basketball players — guys who have been scoring at every level their entire lives — change their minds mid-air about what they're going to do with the ball.

That's not defense. That's a force field.

The DPOY is his. Unanimously.

When reporters asked Wembanyama if he'd be surprised if he didn't become the first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in NBA history, he didn't hesitate.

"Yes. Yes, I would."

I mean... he's right. No player has ever won DPOY unanimously. Not Ben Wallace. Not Hakeem. Not Kawhi. Not Giannis. None of them got every single vote. And Wembanyama is a -1200 favorite. That's not a betting line. That's a coronation.

NBC Sports literally titled their DPOY predictions article "It's Victor Wembanyama. Duh." When the media outlet can't even pretend there's a debate, you know it's over.

But here's where it gets genuinely historic.

Wembanyama isn't just chasing DPOY. He's in the MVP conversation too. SGA is the heavy favorite at -850 — and honestly, Shai deserves it, averaging 31.8 points on absurd 55/38/90 splits. But Wemby has the second-best odds at +1100, and there's a real argument to be made.

If he somehow pulls off both? He joins a list with exactly three names on it: Michael Jordan (1988). Hakeem Olajuwon (1994). Giannis Antetokounmpo (2020).

That's it. In 79 years of the NBA, only three players have won MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. Wembanyama would be the fourth. At 21.

Jordan was 24 when he did it. Hakeem was 31. Giannis was 25. Wemby would be the youngest by three full years.

The Spurs went from 22 wins to 62.

People forget where San Antonio was. In 2023-24, Wembanyama's rookie year, the Spurs went 22-60. Last season, 34-48. This season? 62-19 and the second seed in the Western Conference. That's a 40-win improvement in two years. Those are the most wins for the franchise since the 67-win 2015-16 squad.

And yeah, the De'Aaron Fox trade changed everything. Fox gave Wembanyama something he never had — a legitimate pick-and-roll partner with explosive first-step speed and real playmaking chops. Since the trade, Fox has been averaging 23.5 points and 6.1 assists while shooting a career-high from three. He scored 18 with 10 assists in that Mavericks blowout.

But make no mistake. This is Wemby's team. Fox knows it. The coaching staff knows it. The entire Western Conference knows it.

The scariest part about all of this?

He's still getting better. Look at his last 10 games: 27.3 points, 13.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.4 blocks. Those aren't season averages — that's his recent stretch. He's peaking at exactly the right time, heading into his first real playoff run as a top-two seed with a legitimate co-star.

The Spurs host the Nuggets tonight on ESPN to close the regular season. Jokic is averaging a triple-double. Wembanyama is chasing history. It's the perfect final game before the postseason begins.

Two years ago, this franchise was picking in the lottery hoping they'd found their next generational talent. They did. And he just dropped 40 in 26 minutes because he needed to play one more game to qualify for awards.

He didn't just qualify. He made the rest of the league look like they're playing a different sport.