Victor Wembanyama's case for best in the world is something Luka Doncic’s scoring can’t match

Despite an ugly season opener, Victor Wembanyama has been the best player in the NBA this year. That's not an opinion with no data to back it up; it's a reality reinforced by the advanced metrics that the analytics guys love using to quantify what's happening on the court.

Top 3 players in box plus/minus per 100 possessions

Victor Wembanyama - 14.3
Stephen Curry - 14.2
Luka Doncic - 12.3

First of all, let's address the elephant in the room. Steph Curry's place in the top three is absurd at this stage of his career. The 7-3 Warriors have been little more than afterthoughts in recent years, and they're making a real run to start this season. Kudos to them.

However, I'm going to focus on the battle between Wembanyama and Doncic because I don't believe Curry will sustain this production over the entire season. Either fatigue or rest will slow down his campaign, and by season's end, Golden State won't win enough games to have a true MVP contender. So, this is about Wemby's ascent and Luka's tear, and we're going to keep it there.

We didn't need numbers to prove Wemby has played better than Luka

There are two sides of the ball. There are two sides of the ball. There are two sides of the damn ball. Spurs fans know this very well, as the organization has been built on defense. You don't win championships without it, yet it's treated as an afterthought in best-player-in-the-world debates... usually.

Wembanyama's defense is just way too impactful for anyone to ignore its value. The four blocks a game are crazy enough, but he eradicates certain actions, sometimes forcing teams to play with a hand tied behind their back simply by existing on the court.

San Antonio's French anchor also happens to be one of the league's most game-breaking offensive weapons. The argument doesn't center on gravity this year either. Last year, it was a big part of his MVP argument, but it wasn't enough because the counting stats weren't there. Now, he's averaging 29 points and exploding for 40- and 50-point nights.

The (very real) gravity is just the cherry on top at this point.

Luka Doncic is averaging 40 points a game with some pretty unreal efficiency. The Slovenian savant is shooting 49.8% FG and 41.9% 3PT and throwing in eight assists and eight rebounds. If he can keep that up, he'll have the strongest case for MVP he's ever put together. But that still won't be enough if Wemby keeps playing like this.

The Alien's numbers are coming in 30.3 minutes a night, and the Spurs are blowing teams out because of it. San Antonio has the second-largest average margin of victory (10.3). Luka is playing 36 per game, powering the Lakers' 7.5-point margin.

Wemby is elite on both ends, and Luka is only elite on one

Both players are forces of nature, but only one is destructive on both offense and defense. When you look even further into the advanced stats, it shows Wemby's offensive impact isn't that far behind Luka's, but Vic laps LA's poster child on the other end.

This is the year we've all been waiting for. Wemby is the prince that was promised, and he's living up to his hype in every way. Being the best player in the league at 22 years old aligns with the expectations set before he arrived stateside, and once he grabs that title, it will be damn near impossible to take it from him.

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