Victor Wembanyama had a year like no rookie in NBA history.
Others scored more points, others grabbed more rebounds, others had more blocks, others made more steals. But never had there been a player who, in Year 1 of his career, posted all these averages — at least 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game.
Until now.
The long-expected result became reality on Monday, when the Spurs' star from France was announced as the unanimous winner of the NBA's Rookie of the Year award. He's the third San Antonio player to win it, joining David Robinson in 1990 and Tim Duncan in 1998 — both of whom, like Wembanyama, were No. 1 overall picks and instantly anointed as centers who would lead the Spurs to greatness.
“My goals were always to help my team as best as I could and get better as the year went on,” Wembanyama said from San Antonio on TNT after the award was announced on the network's NBA playoff pregame show. “I knew in order to do this I had to be individually good on the court and dominant. So, it was a huge thing for me and a big thing to get. It’s always been really important and I’m glad it’s finally official.”
Wembanyama is the sixth player since the award debuted in the 1952-53 season to get every first-place vote. He joins Houston’s Ralph Sampson (1984), Robinson (1990), the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin (2011), Portland’s Damian Lillard (2013) and Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns (2016).
Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren and Charlotte's Brandon Miller were the other finalists for the award. Wembanyama got all 99 first-place votes from a panel of reporters and broadcasters who cover the league. Holmgren got 98 of 99 second-place votes, and Miller got the other second-place vote to finish third.
Miami's Jaime Jaquez Jr. was fourth, followed by Golden State's Brandin Podziemski and Dallas' Dereck Lively II. No other rookie got a second- or third-place vote.
There had been other near-unanimous selections in recent years: Orlando’s Paolo Banchero got 98 of 100 first-place votes last year, Memphis’ Ja Morant got 99 of 100 in 2020, Dallas’ Luka Doncic got 98 of 100 in 2019, and Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons got 90 of 101 in 2018.
But voters left no doubt — Wemby was the one. And he’s already working toward getting better.
“Physically, the work is never going to be done,” Wembanyama said. “I’ve had my plan for months ready for all of my body and we’re going to keep discovering new ways to get better and work on my body. For basketball, there’s a lot I want to work on.”
Wembanyama became the first international winner of the award since Doncic in 2019 and the fifth such winner in the last 10 seasons. Andrew Wiggins (Canada) won in 2015, Towns (Dominican Republic) won in 2016, Simmons (Australia) won in 2018 and Doncic followed the next season.
Wembanyama became just the fourth player, and first rookie, to finish a season with at least 1,500 points, 250 assists and 250 blocked shots. The others: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it five times, Hakeem Olajuwon did it twice and Robinson did it twice. Nobody had done it since 1993-94, when Olajuwon and Robinson both had such a season.
Wembanyama said his family has adapted to life in the U.S. and the change from France to Texas was not overwhelming.
“With no contest, it’s the best country in the world for an athlete,” Wembanyama said. “The culture, everything, the infrastructure, it’s made for us to thrive. I’m really in a bubble. I know I’m living a very privileged life as an NBA player and there’s a lot of people taking care of me every day. This award is also for them.”
The rookie award may be the start of a big week for Wembanyama, who will be in the top three finishers for Defensive Player of the Year as well. That award gets announced Tuesday, with Minnesota's Rudy Gobert and Miami's Bam Adebayo the other finalists.
The NBA will reveal the MVP — either Denver's Nikola Jokic, Dallas' Luka Doncic or Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — on Wednesday.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
FILE - San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots in front of Memphis Grizzlies forward GG Jackson (45) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. Wembanyama has been named NBA Rookie of the Year after a record-setting season. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill, File)
FILE - San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball first round draft pick Victor Wembanyama speaks during a news conference in San Antonio, Saturday, June 24, 2023. Wembanyama has been named NBA Rookie of the Year after a record-setting season. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike killed 20 people in central Gaza, mostly women and children, and fighting raged across the north on Sunday as Israel's leaders aired divisions over who should govern Gaza after the war, now in its eighth month.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced criticism from his own War Cabinet, with his main political rival, Benny Gantz, threatening to leave the government if a plan is not formulated by June 8 that includes an international administration for postwar Gaza.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan was expected to meet with top Israeli leaders on Sunday to discuss an ambitious U.S. plan for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and help the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza in exchange for a path to eventual statehood.
Netanyahu, who is opposed to Palestinian statehood, has rejected those proposals, saying Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with local Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
Gantz' withdrawal would not bring down Netanyahu's coalition government, but it would leave him more reliant on far-right allies who support the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, full military occupation and the rebuilding of Jewish settlements there.
Even as the discussions of postwar planning take on new weight, the war is still raging with no end in sight. In recent weeks, Hamas has regrouped in parts of northern Gaza that were heavily bombed in the early days of the war and where Israeli ground troops had already operated.
The airstrike in Nuseirat, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, killed 20 people, including eight women and four children, according to records at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, which received the bodies.
A separate strike on a street in Nuseirat killed another five people, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service. In Deir al-Balah, a strike killed Zahed al-Houli, a senior officer in the Hamas-run police, and another man, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway.
The Civil Defense says the strikes hit several homes near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya, killing at least 10 people. Footage released by the rescuers showed them trying to pull the body of a woman out of the rubble as explosions echo in the background and smoke rises.
In the urban Jabliya refugee camp nearby, residents reported a heavy wave of artillery and airstrikes.
“The situation is very difficult,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old in Jabaliya. He said the whole eastern side has become a battle zone where the Israeli fighter jets “strike anything that moves."
Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the Civil Defense, said rescuers had recovered at least 150 bodies, more than half of them women and children, since Israel launched the operation in Jabaliya last week. He said around 300 homes have been “completely destroyed.”
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which Palestinian militants stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting some 250.
The war has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced within the territory, often multiple times.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames the high death toll and destruction on Hamas, which positions fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in dense, residential areas.
Netanyahu's critics, including thousands of protesters who took to the streets again on Saturday, accuse him of prolonging the war and rejecting a cease-fire deal that would release hostages so he can avoid a reckoning over the security failures that led to the attack.
Polls show that Gantz, a political centrist, would likely succeed Netanyahu if early elections are held. That would expose Netanyahu to prosecution on longstanding corruption allegations.
Netanyahu denies any political motives and says the offensive must continue until Hamas is dismantled and the estimated 100 hostages held in Gaza, and the remains of more than 30 others, are returned. He has said it's pointless to discuss postwar arrangements while Hamas is still fighting because the militants have threatened anyone who cooperates with Israel.
Netanyahu also faces pressure from Israel's closest ally, the United States, which has provided crucial military aid and diplomatic cover for the offensive while expressing growing frustration with Israel's conduct of the war.
President Joe Biden's administration recently held up a shipment of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) each and said the U.S. would not provide offensive weapons for a full-scale invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, citing fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
But last week, after Israel launched what it says is a limited operation in Rafah, the administration told legislators it would move forward with the sale of $1 billion worth of arms, tank ammunition, tactical vehicles and mortar rounds, according to congressional aides.
Sullivan is expected in Israel after meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday. The administration has been working on an ambitious plan in which Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel and join other Arab states in helping to administer and rebuild Gaza, in exchange for a U.S. defense pact and help in building a civilian nuclear program.
But U.S. and Saudi officials say that deal requires Israel to agree to a credible path to eventual Palestinian statehood, something Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out.
In Gantz' ultimatum, he expressed support for normalizing ties with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. But he also said “we will not allow any outside power, friendly or hostile, to impose a Palestinian state on us.”
Magdy reported from Cairo and Krauss from Jerusalem.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators blocking a road during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators blocking a road during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Police disperse demonstrators blocking a road during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Police disperse demonstrators blocking a road during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian boy carries an aid box after storming trucks loaded with humanitarian aid brought in through a new U.S.-built pier, at the beach road of Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Saher Alghorra)
People protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
