NBA consolation prize a grim reminder of what could have been for Wembanyama

The NBA is announcing the Defensive Player of the Year winner tonight on TNT ahead of the first playoff game of the evening. There are three awesome defenders up for the award, but there's only one thing that matters to Spurs fans regarding this subject: Victor Wembanyama is the league's best defender, and everyone knows it.

Shout out to Draymond Green, Evan Mobley, and Dyson Daniels because if Vic didn't exist, this wouldn't be a topic of conversation. Unfortunately for them, the Alien is as real as an ambulance bill. Jolting, I know, but you just have to deal with it. So, they'll get to take home some hardware, but they'll have to know that it comes with an asterisk.

Wembanyama will gobble up DPOY awards in the future

This is the second season in a row that Wembanyama was denied this very same award when most were fully aware of his defensive impact. Last season, politics played a role in the rewarding of Rudy Gobert for being born before Victor, as he benefited from playing with a team full of stellar defensive athletes—something Wemby didn't have the pleasure of working with.

No rookie had ever won Defensive Player of the Year before, and that was a major factor in swaying the voters. If you listened to confirmed voters speak, you often heard someone say, "It's never been given to a rookie before," like that means something.

The generational talent was doing more than anyone expected, raising a bottom-10 defense to a top-10 defense with his presence alone. He raced so far past anyone else in blocked shots, it was hilarious to look at the distance between him and the second-place player (254 for Wembanyama to 190 for Chet Holmgren). It shouldn't have been a question, but alas, it was taken from him.

This year it was just because of that darn DVT (deep vein thrombosis). A few seasons ago, the league implemented a 65-game threshold for award season to ensure star players took the regular season seriously. Too many of them were missing games to rest, hoping to be fresh for the playoffs, but their strategy was devaluing the regular season and destroying the product for fans.

That's the unfortunate part about all of this. Wembanyama would have won the award if the players had just, you know, played in as many of the 82 games they signed up for as possible. Wemby observers know that he's almost desperate to get on the floor. He would never even consider sitting if he were healthy enough to play, yet he's penalized anyway.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think an exception should be made for Vic. I think that the rest of the league should be ashamed of themselves for putting each other in this position. They've cost themselves accolades and money.