Victor Wembanyama has come alive for the Spurs recently, which led to the San Antonio superstar voicing his desire to win the NBA MVP award. That goal doesn't seem too farfetched based on his numbers this season.
Victor Wembanyama is speaking out on his desire to hoist his first Michael Jordan Trophy as the NBA's Most Valuable Player this season.
"Right now, in my mind, (I'm( taking care of my body because I also want to win the MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year," remarked Wembanyama during the NBA on Prime's Nightcap show on Saturday. "I'm trying to press the gas from now until the end of the season."
While every player in the league wants the coveted award, the numbers show this dream can easily become a reality for Wembanyama.
Since the calendar flipped to March, Wembanyama has been virtually unstoppable. The French phenom has tallied at least 25 points in six of the seven games he's appeared in this month, including a staggering 32 in their latest outing with the Hornets on Saturday.
His eye-popping totals are backed up by extremely efficient shooting percentages, as he's sitting at a 50 percent clip from the field and making around 37 percent of his three-point shots.
Alongside his high scoring numbers, Wemby has racked up double-digit assists in four of his last five games to push his season average to 11.2 per game.
While nagging injuries have forced him to the bench at various times this season, which happened as recent as Thursday in a loss to the Denver Nuggets, Wembanyama has kept pace with his biggest MVP competition.
His two biggest threats to take the award are Denver's Nikola Jokic and OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. This pair holds a pedigree in the MVP department, as they have accounted for four of the last five wins.
SGA is outscoring Wemby, with a 31.8 point per game average this season. However, Wembanyama got the better of the reigning MVP in their regular-season clashes. His Spurs defeated the Thunder 4-1, as he posted an average of 18 points and just shy of 10 rebounds in their series. While it could be very easy to award SGA another MVP title based on his impressive scoring numbers, it seems unlikely that the regular season results against Wemby and company will be ignored if the gap between the two starts to shrink.
On the other hand, Jokic and Wembanyama have yet to face off on the court although their squads have met twice this season. The Spurs and Nuggets have split these prior matchups, with Wemby out of action in both. While the on-court comparison is non-existent, their statistics are nearly identical with Jokic taking the slight edge in assists.
While Jokic has played similiarly to Wembanyama, he has failed to turn that individual success into team wins as often. The Nuggets are 4-4 in March compared to the Spurs who are 6-2 this month, with one of those losses coming without Wembanyama. In addition, the Spurs have only lost once with Wembanyama on the court since Jan. 31 while the Nuggets with Jokic have lost 12 times in the same timeframe.
Despite his numbers not reaching the top of the charts, Wembanyama has been as good as any player in the NBA, including its reigning MVP down the stretch. He has also done what his biggest competitor hasn't -- win in head-to-head matchups. If Wemby is able to "press the gas" from this point on and narrow the margins between himself and SGA, it is not unfathomable to see the NBA reward his generational talent, ability to defeat the league's best and overall team success with his first MVP title.