The last hot take I picked V.J Edgecombe to win rookie of the year in the NBA this season. The NBA awards will be released at the end of the season, so my record on hot takes this year sits at 1-0-1.
The NBA season started two weeks ago and there have been a variety of surprises including the improvement of Victor Wembanyama this past offseason. Wembanyama has started this season averaging 25.9 points per game with 13 rebounds and 4.1 blocks per game. In the offseason, Wembanyama did Shaolin kung fu training in China, gaining about 35 pounds and being listed about an inch taller than last season. Wembanyama also spent time with Kevin Garnett to work on the mental side of his game. Currently Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic all have higher odds to win MVP over Wembanyama this season according to fox sports.
In Wembanyama’s rookie season he averaged 21.4 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.6 blocks, which was enough to win rookie of the year. He followed that up with averaging 24.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game in his second season, so it was clear the development was working smoothly. Entering his third season, the hype is there for the 7 ‘5 French prodigy.
Wembanyama set the league on fire with the miraculous plays he’s making this season including the 40 points and 15 rebounds he put up in his season debut vs the Dallas Mavericks. Wembanyama has improved substantially every year in the league since 2023 in every statistical category. Shai, Luka and Jokic have all dominated the league for many years and have all been in NBA MVP talks for multiple seasons, but now with the recent improvement of Wembanyama the MVP list looks a little different now.
At the end of last season Wembanyama was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, which is when a blood clot forms in a deep vein. Despite this major setback, Wembanyama came back and did all of his fascinating offseason training to come back in 2025 better than ever. Victor Wembanyama will win the MVP award this season.
