Victor Wembanyama was left off an All-NBA first team ballot and the explanation is explosive

Victor Wembanyama just finished a dominant regular season. He averaged career highs of 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds, and led the league with 3.08 blocks per game. The San Antonio Spurs star is now only the seventh player in NBA history to average at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks in a single season. 

After winning Defensive Player of the Year unanimously and finishing third in MVP voting, he seemed guaranteed to be a unanimous All-NBA First Team selection. But he fell one vote short.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic each received all 100 First Team votes. The single holdout against Wembanyama was SiriusXM NBA Radio host Justin Termine. His decision to place Wembanyama on the Second Team sparked an intense debate across the basketball community.

Termine was transparent about it, saying, "I voted for Wembanyama third for MVP, and I actually think he's a better player than SGA. I think he is the best player in the world right now, but I thought Jokic had a better regular season at the same position."

Why I was the lone voter to leave Wemby off 1st Team All-NBA. pic.twitter.com/jWuwKdx46s

He added, "In my opinion, it is unfair historically to those that came before us… that those guys at center were not allowed to be on the first team at the same time. So it's unfair to Wilt and Russell and all the other guys who couldn't make first team at the same time just because somebody played the same position as them."

His argument is rooted in NBA history. For nearly 70 years, the All-NBA format strictly allowed only one center on the First Team. This rule routinely forced legendary players onto lower teams or off the ballots entirely.

In 1962, reigning MVP Bill Russell was pushed to the Second Team because Wilt Chamberlain took the lone center spot. Decades later, MVP finalist Patrick Ewing missed All-NBA honors entirely because Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Shaquille O'Neal occupied the only available center positions.

The rule finally changed because Jokic kept forcing MVP runner-up Joel Embiid to the Second Team during the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons. Because of this history, Termine believes changing the rule now retroactively penalizes past greats who had to follow the old restrictions. However, critics argue he is just holding onto obsolete rules to penalize Wembanyama.

The 22-year-old still made the First Team with 99 votes. But missing a unanimous selection right after winning DPOY made the lone dissenting vote a big story.

Right now, he is focused on the playoffs. The Spurs and Thunder are tied 2-2 after San Antonio won Game 4 with a convincing 103-82 victory. Wembanyama finished that game with 33 points, eight rebounds and five assists. It was his fourth 30-point performance of the postseason.

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