Unreasonable Wemby MVP slight shows the NBA still struggles to understand value

NBA.com's latest MVP rankings dropped this morning, and Victor Wembanyama is still in fourth place. To recap what's been going on for this Silver and Black lately, this team just had an undefeated month; they're a league-best 13-2 in their last 15 games, which included knocking off Detroit twice. Victor Wembanyama has led the charge, but he's made almost no headway into the top three. Explain that.

We have to stop looking at the Most Valuable Player of the Year award as an honor solely driven by offensive production on the stat sheet. I had to be so specific there, because Wemby should be forcing people to rethink their definition of "value," even on the offensive end. Respectfully, at the very least, Cade Cunningham should not still be ahead of him after what we just witnessed.

Wemby will have world-conquering performances like he did against the Pistons last night, but not every night is a heavy numbers game for the Alien. That doesn't reduce his value as his team keeps winning; it enhances it when you realize why that's the case.

Wembanyama makes his teammates better by sheer presence

This isn't some fairy tale lore story where I'm trying to build up a guy on the team I root for just because he's on the Spurs. You have to honestly look at how defenses are guarding this guy. The pushing, crowding, blitzing, and collapsing happens at an exaggerated level that's almost silly sometimes when you watch it closely.

The team continues to thrive even when he has 12-point nights like he did in back-to-back dubs recently, not just because the players surrounding him are talented—because they are—but also because the opposition is terrified of what Victor has proven he can do.

Last night serves as a fresh reminder. Wemby's 38-point barrage with 16 boards and 5 blocks in almost 39 minutes was unreal, but it's only one of many disgusting stat lines for The Idea (I'm trying something new after it was suggested after the game by an X user whose post I can no longer locate, but I digress).

Spurs fans must hope the MVP voters will see Wemby's impact clearly

It could be 40/15/3/1/1. He's put up. 38/12/5/5/1. We've seen 21/17/6/4/1 from him. The production often ends up looking like numbers for the Texas Lottery. But some nights, he doesn't provide the gaudy scoring like in the game against Philly a few days back. He only put up 10 points, but he was a +41 in 24 minutes. He completely dominated that game, and if you watched it, you'd see it clearly.

These things need to start being taken into consideration. Nobody impacts the floor like he does. Not even Nikola Jokic. Vic will put up a full night's of MVP work in 25 minutes and call it a game. We've never seen anything like that, and his selflessness is just as much of a driving force for San Antonio's winning as his point totals.

I haven't even delved into the preseason expectations vs. what the reality has been. That argument favors the Big Baguette, as well.

What are we playing the games for if beating the guy ahead of you two weeks in a row and dominating the league for over a month doesn't move you up the leaderboard? Fortunately, there's still time, and the real award will be decided by many. If Vic keeps putting his stamp on Spurs wins so vehemently, there's still a path to stealing the NBA's most prestigious regular-season award.