First All-Star vote returns make unmistakably loud statement about Wembanyama

On Thursday afternoon, the NBA officially released its first All-Star voting results from fans, and San Antonio Spurs fans were delighted to see Victor Wembanyama rightly get his recognition. He is currently fifth among Western Conference frontcourt players with 928,501 total votes.

This is obviously a well-deserved honor for a player who is shaping up to be one of the most talented from an all-around perspective in the league. As impressive as Wemby was in his rookie season (one in which he earned the Defensive Player of the Year award and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting) he has already expanded his repertiore a significant amount to begin his second professional campaign.

Victor is currently taking nearly four more three-point shot attempts than last season. Many have criticized this given his 7-foot-4 frame, and perhaps it could be a legitimate talking point in the future when the Spurs are potentially competing for championships once again. But for now, he is nailing 35% of those three-point attempts, a more than respectable number given Wemby's height.

Fans are recognizing Wemby as one of the faces of the league

Fans have clearly taken notice of his elevated level of play, given Victor's significantly higher standing in the fan voting returns compared to last year. At this time last season when the first fan voting numbers were released, Wembanyama ranked eighth among West frontcourt players and had just 221,220 total votes to his name.

At the time, he was behind the Houston Rockets' Alperen Sengun by over 100,000 votes. Now, the difference is night and day. Wemby currently sits with nearly three times the amount of votes as Sengun, with his total of over 900,000 absolutely trumping Sengun's 314,223, which is less than he had last year.

In the grand scheme of things, this shift makes a lot of sense. Headed into Wembanyama's rookie season, there was some relatively widespread skepticism about whether Victor could truly be the type of game-changing player that he was expected to become. Small moments like his early poor shooting performances and Kai Jones' dunk on him at Summer League were enough to make some more casual viewers look away for the time being.

But now, Wembanyama is making his talent absolutely undeniable. The perception even among neutral NBA fans now seems to be, "we had better win a championship while we can, because Wemby is coming." It would be a shock to everyone at this point if Victor does not earn his first All-Star nomination in year two.