Wembanyama has forced uncomfortable conversations that aren't stopping

Victor Wembanyama is on a collision course with a Defensive Player of the Year award, he's chasing an MVP, and he's flirting with the Most Improved Player trophy. Yes, I know. Lottery picks shouldn't be eligible for the MIP award, especially not as a generational prospect. But I just want you to take a moment and ponder, what if?

Here is the proof that I'm not pulling this talking point out of thin air. The question has been asked, and it's not the first time. I'm usually of the opinion that players with Wemby's billing as a prospect shouldn't be on the ballot for such an award, but clearly FanDuel feels otherwise. He's 13th on their long list of possible winners with +4000 odds.

Wembanyama's MIP award-winning case is a unique one

It only took four games in the Spurs' star's rookie season to put up a stat line that included four blocks. He was a demon on defense from the very first day, so even though he's averaging six stocks (steals & blocks) per game, up from five a night in the last two seasons, that's not going to be enough of a jump to justify winning Most Improved Player.

Everything has to be based on his offensive growth, and that has been tremendous. Vic went from turning the ball over more than three times a game to fewer than twice a night. He's already had several zero-turnover nights, and that's a significant improvement for someone with a usage rate as high as his.

His three-point efficiency is down after a couple of poor shooting nights, but there's too much time left to think it will stay that way. He shot 35% from deep last season, and there have been no signs of regression in any other part of his game. If you want to bet that he'll stay around 31% for the entire year, go for it. I'd like to keep my money, thank you very much.

In fact, instead of regressing, he's done the opposite. Everything is better. Analysts can't point to a single area of Wembanyama's game that used to be better than it is now. His handle is tighter, his overall efficiency went from 48% to 56%, he's averaging four more rebounds, and he's getting to the free-throw line at more than twice the rate of last season.

Going from 24 points per game to 30 is quite the jump, too. And it's been easy. I could easily see him putting up 33 points throughout his third campaign in the NBA, and if he goes from 24/11/4/1/4 to 33/15/4/2/5, how could you not at least think about giving him the MIP award?