San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama has been named the 2025-26 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first unanimous winner in league history with all 100 first-place votes. At age 22, he is the youngest recipient of the award in his third NBA season. Oklahoma City Thunder's Chet Holmgren placed second, with Detroit Pistons' Ausar Thompson third.
The NBA announced the award on Monday. Wembanyama received every first-place vote from the panel, surpassing previous records. Ben Wallace holds the prior mark with 116 of 120 votes in the 2001-02 season. This marks the fourth Defensive Player of the Year honor for the Spurs, following Kawhi Leonard's wins in 2015 and 2016, David Robinson in 1992, and Alvin Robertson in 1986. It is the first major defensive accolade for a Spurs big man that predecessor Tim Duncan did not win. Wembanyama qualified by playing 64 regular-season games and appearing in San Antonio's NBA Cup title game, meeting the 65-game threshold. As a rookie in 2023-24, he finished second with 19 first-place votes behind Rudy Gobert. He was ineligible last season due to the games minimum. During the 2025-26 season, Wembanyama led the league in blocks with 197, 44 more than second-place Jay Huff of the Indiana Pacers. He also recorded 66 steals, 168 deflections, and 597 contested shots. Despite contesting the 12th-most shots league-wide, Spurs opponents rarely attempted shots within six feet of the rim, with San Antonio allowing the second-fewest such attempts. Opponents scored just 103.6 points per 100 possessions when Wembanyama was on the floor, the lowest for any player-season since the 2019-20 Milwaukee Bucks.
