There's a silver lining in Wembanyama's derailed MVP campaign

Over the past 2-3 weeks, the NBA community has made it clear that Victor Wembanyama will not and should not win the MVP award this season. ESPN's Tim Bontemps polled media members who overwhelmingly picked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and an anonymous player poll returned the same results.

The Spurs' French superstar should still end up adding plenty of accolades to his name, though. The Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA First Team, and All-Defensive 1st Team awards should be a lock. That's plenty of reason to hold your head up high after an unbelievable season and one of the most closely contested MVP races we've seen in a long time.

After playing his 65th game against the Dallas Mavericks yesterday, there's nothing standing in his way of earning those awards. As for the future, it may be in trouble with an increasingly motivated Victor Wembanyama.

An angry Wembanyama should terrify the NBA

One of the many things San Antonio fans have had the pleasure of enjoying in the three years Wembanyama has donned the silver and black is the edge he plays with when he's upset. Opponents will try to bully him on the court or talk trash to him, and their team usually ends up getting dunked on and yelled at as a result.

We won't know the official results for MVP until a round or two into the postseason. Last year, the NBA didn't reveal SGA as the winner until the day after game one of the Western Conference Finals. If the Spurs can get through the first two rounds in the playoffs, there's a very good chance they'll get to play the Thunder in a seven-game series for the right to appear in the NBA Finals.

Now, I don't believe that a competitor as vicious as Wembanyama necessarily needs additional motivation when a championship is on the line. However, it would be ignorant to believe him to be incapable of finding an extra gear after he loses the award right as he's set to face off against the guy who won it.

Now, again, there's no reason for Wembanyama to hang his head. After two and a half seasons, he's already being called the greatest defender of all time. He's comfortably ranked as a top-five player in the NBA, and the All-NBA 1st Team nod will support that. But he clearly wants it all. There's no shame in that. It's actually refreshing to see an athlete care so much.

I'll tell you what, though. Wemby wanted to win this season. He made strong arguments for why he should win, but the basketball world has made it clear that they still value scoring above all else. Even if you're possibly the greatest defender ever and a top 10-15 offensive player, it's not enough. So, I imagine he'll adjust.

If everyone is going to insist that he average 30 to win MVP, he'll just simply average 30. That's fine. By next year with the added knowledge, strength, and training, nobody will be able to stop him from doing it. They can barely stop him now.