Wemby’s awards campaign clears hurdle

At the time Victor Wembanyama limped to the Spurs’ locker room with 6:24 remaining in the first quarter Friday against New York, he had already done enough to accomplish one of his personal goals for the season.

By appearing in his 65th game, the Spurs rookie became eligible for many of the postseason awards the NBA will hand out later in the spring and summer.

Complying with a new rule the league instituted this year, voters are now allowed to consider Wembanyama for Defensive Player of the Year and AllDefensive team and, if they are so inclined, the All-NBA team.

The rule does not apply to the Rookie of the Year race, in which Wembanyama has long been the presumptive frontrunner.

Now that he is officially eligible, Wembanyama’s teammates believe the 20-year-old should get consideration for the Defensive Player of the Year, an award no rookie has ever won.

“If you watch the game, you see how he affects the game defensively,” point guard Tre Jones said. “It’s tough because of our record (18-56), but I think most people know he’s already the best defender in the league already.”

It should be noted Wembanyama returned to his 65th game after banging knees with teammate Jeremy Sochan to produce the game of his NBA life.

He recorded a career-best 40 points and matched a careerhigh 20 rebounds to lead a 130126 overtime victory over the surging Knicks.

In doing so, he became only the second Spurs player to log a 40-20 game, joining Larry Kenon in 1977.

“It is not the goal, but it still shows things,” Wembanyama said of his personal feats. “It still shows progression and progress. The more accolades I can get, the more I can get.”

Heading into Sunday’s home game against Golden State, Wembanyama rates as the NBA’s leading shot-blocker at 3.4 per game and is the league-leader in “stocks” (steals plus blocks) at 304. Over the past 10 seasons, no Defensive Player of the Year winner has tallied more than the 254 “stocks” Memphis’ Jaren Jackson did last season.

As such, Wembanyama appears a shoo-in to become the sixth rookie in league history — and the first since Tim Duncan in 1998 — to earn a spot on one of the NBA’s two All-Defensive teams.

He is also likely at least receive votes for Defensive Player of the Year honors, which for now are still presumed to be Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert’s to lose.

The Spurs are convinced it is only a matter of time before Wembanyama has multiple Defensive Player of the Year trophies on his mantle.

“It’s just a matter of time before that will be his award,” Jones said. “The only thing against him is our record right now.”

Brunson ‘island’ not a pleasant stay for Jones

With Sochan knocked out of the game after halftime with a left ankle injury, the Spurs had few options to try and contain Knicks star Jalen Brunson, who was on his way to a career-best 61 points.

“I thought Jeremy gave him a little trouble,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “When he went out, we were pretty nervous about that, what we were going to do with that guy.”

It was Jones who drew the black bean.

Down the stretch of the fourth quarter and into overtime, New York was content to clear half the floor and let him work oneon-one against the Spurs point guard.

“It’s an island-type feeling,” Jones said.

By that, Jones didn’t mean Hawaii. More like Rikers.

It was a job Jones, a former Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Duke, was willing to accept.

“I’m up for the challenge,” Jones said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Brunson shot 25 of 47 en route to the second-highest scoring night in Knicks history. He had 40 of those points after halftime, with Sochan in the locker room.

In the fourth quarter and overtime, however, Brunson was a combined 6 of 17. He was 1 of 5 in the extra period, and left a potential game-winning 3-pointer short in the waning seconds.

“At the end of the game, knowing he had done so much leading up to that, and like anybody would be he was probably exhausted,” Jones said. “So just knowing that, I tried to make it as tough as possible.”

Johnson’s return provides a boost

Keldon Johnson returned from a one-game absence with knee soreness to help boost the Spurs against New York.

He had 12 of his 17 points during a first quarter in which he made all four of his attempts, including two 3-pointers, to stake the Spurs to an early 11point lead.

After the second of those 3-pointers, Johnson showed off his vertical leap in celebration.

“Especially in the first half, he knocked down a couple big shots and really brought that KJ energy,” guard Devin Vassell said.

March has been Johnson’s best month since his mid-December shift to the bench. He is averaging 16.3 points while shooting 49.3 % overall and

39.7% from 3-point range.