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Victor Wembanyama’s numbers are absurd. The 22-year-old, 7-foot-4 San Antonio Spurs center is averaging 25 points, 11.5 rebounds and a league-leading 3.1 blocks per game.
But maybe more impressive are the numbers in his head.
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Because the French native wowed with lightning-quick math on Friday night while discussing the NBA’s 65-game minimum required for awards eligibility.
“Of course, the alien gets all of it right,” a reporter said as Wembanyama made a series of calculations on the fly while mulling his stance on the subject.
The exchange began in the wake of Wembanyama’s 40-point, 13-rebound performance, which helped his now-62-win Spurs defeat the Dallas Mavericks 139-120. While securing his fifth 40-piece of the season, Wembanyama logged his 65th qualifying appearance, meaning he’ll officially be eligible for yearly awards, including NBA MVP.
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The third-year Spurs frontcourt standout was in danger of missing the 65-game threshold after sustaining a left rib contusion in an April 6 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. He sat out only one contest before returning to action on Friday versus the Mavs, a game he later said he “for sure would not have played” in had he already qualified for end-of-year awards consideration.
In a postgame discussion with reporters, Wembanyama processed the fact that Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards and Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić are all currently ineligible for this season’s NBA awards (Dončić, though, is challenging the rule).
“If those three aren’t — I mean, especially Cade and Luka — in the end-of-season awards, for sure it’s not going to reflect their impact on the season,” Wembanyama said, via The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. “But, at the same time, in my opinion, it’s good to have a threshold, a limit. Where do we need to put it? I don’t know. It’s a good question.”
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Then Wembanyama asked the assembled media a question.
“What percentage of the season … do you think should be the limit?” he said.
One reporter suggested 75-80%. Another countered…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/victor-wembanyama-ponders-where-nba-awards-threshold-should-lie-while-doing-lightning-quick-math-postgame-193237901.html
Author : Andy Backstrom
Publish date : 2026-04-11 19:32:00
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