1. The Defensive Player of the Year Award is competitive again
Wembanyama was the runaway frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year, blocking a league-leading 3.8 shots per game. That’s the highest block average in 25 years since Alonzo Mourning in 1998-99. Previously, a dominant defender like Wembanyama might have won the award anyway, but now NBA players have to play 65 games to qualify for awards.
That means Jaren Jackson, Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies, or Evan Mobley of the Cleveland Cavaliers could steal the award. Speaking of steals, Dyson Daniels of the Atlanta Hawks and his three steals per game could take it — or even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose Oklahoma City Thunder have the league’s best defense.
2. The Spurs’ playoff push is done
San Antonio already had a tough road to the playoffs. Currently ranked 12th in the Western Conference, they were three and a half games out of the play-in tournament and outscored by 1.4 points per game.
The Spurs’ 18th-ranked defense will likely struggle without a legitimate defensive center. Instead, the remainder of this season will be about getting rookie guard Stephon Castle and deadline acquisition De’Aaron Fox accustomed to each other. The Spurs will also see how Jeremy Sochan holds up as a rim protector one season after he started the season as their point guard.
3. San Antonio gets another chance at the lottery
With a strong draft class this summer likely to include Duke phenom Cooper Flagg, it’s not the worst time for San Antonio to end up in the lottery again.
The Spurs have their pick, and the Atlanta Hawks’ first-rounder will be this June. The bottom lottery teams have likely lost too much, but the Spurs could conceivably finish with the NBA’s sixth-worst record, giving them better than a one-third chance at another top-4 pick.
4. Wembanyama’s injury will require caution
The diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis means that Wembanyama has a clot deep in his shoulder (“thrombus” means blood clot). It’s a season-ending ailment because of the risk the clot could come loose. San Antonio thinks the shoulder problem is an “isolated condition,” but the team is understandably cautious, especially as blood clots ended one Hall of Famer’s career.
