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'Standing on the shoulders of giants' is more often used as a metaphor. This was not the case for Victor Wembanyama. He had great San Antonio Spurs big men like Tim Duncan and David Robinson to look up to as he developed. However, it was a Houston Rockets legend who inspired him to embark in hunting his first NBA DPOY — Hakeem Olajuwon.
Olajuwon sent Spurs' Wembanyama a message that led to NBA DPOY win
Victor Wembanyama broke multiple records after winning his first NBA DPOY. The Spurs big man was the youngest-ever to win it and also has a chance to usurp Derrick Rose for his title of being the youngest NBA MVP. A lot of that would not happen if previous Spurs greats like David Robinson and Tim Duncan had not helped.
While those two will always be on Wembanyama's side, Hakeem Olajuwon was the one who likely moved the needle in this journey to become the greatest defensive player in league history. The newly-crowned Spurs NBA DPOY outlined the message he got from the Rockets legend, via NBA on NBC.
"I'm smiling because I was just reminding myself of the time I was actually at Hakeem's and looking at this plaque, you know, saying basically a block shots leader all time, right? And he was like, You're gonna beat that one day. So, you know, one step at a time," the Spurs big man said.
Wembanyama took inspiration from Olajuwon. He ended the season averaging a career-high 25 points and 11.5 rebounds. More than that, he also gave the Spurs an insane nightly production of 3.1 blocks and a steal per game. Clearly, this will not be the only time the Spurs big man takes home the NBA DPOY in his career. But, all that matters is his current feeling and Wembanyama is very happy.
"The real struggle might have been getting to 65 games, but I'm super, super happy to win this award, and actually super proud to be the first ever unanimous," he declared.
A lot is ahead of Wembanyama in his journey with the Spurs. Hopefully, Olajuwon, Robinson, and Duncan are able to see him become the greatest of all-time in their lifetimes.
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