Victor Wembanyama Opens at No. 2 in USA Today's First MVP Rankings, Behind Only Luka Doncic
USA Today's Week 1 list puts Wembanyama second at 25.0 points and a league-leading 3.8 blocks per game, with the paper arguing his defensive impact is the part the numbers cannot measure.
Victor Wembanyama is second in the first NBA Most Valuable Player rankings of the season from USA Today Sports, published Friday and read in full this cycle — behind only Los Angeles' Luka Doncic, and ahead of Miami's Giannis Antetokounmpo, Oklahoma City's two-time winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Detroit's Cade Cunningham. Wembanyama's line through five games: 25.0 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
USA Today's case rests on defense as much as scoring. Wembanyama leads the league in blocks at 3.8 per game, and the rankings argue that quantifying his impact requires accounting for the intangible: he 'remains the most singularly effective defensive presence in the world' and forces opposing players to abandon attacks into the paint altogether. The Spurs started slowly with two losses, the paper notes, but have since won three in a row.
The wider list frames the race San Antonio is running in. Doncic leads it at 36.0 points per game and 28.1 percent of the Lakers' scoring in his games; Gilgeous-Alexander sits fourth at 26.0 points while the Thunder absorb a rash of injuries — Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace, Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso all facing extended absences in the paper's account — and Minnesota's Anthony Edwards, also under consideration, is dealing with a knee issue that USA Today flags against the 65-game eligibility threshold. If Oklahoma City slips and San Antonio stays a primary threat in the West, the paper concludes, Wembanyama's case 'will be undeniable.'
