If the season had been to finish right now, the highest two finishers in Defensive Participant of the 12 months voting would, or a minimum of ought to, be Victor Wembanyama and Dyson Daniels in that order. On Monday evening, they matched one another with an eight within the stat column most intently related to their respective defensive prowess.
Wembanyama posted eight blocks in a Spurs loss to the 76ers whereas Daniels had eight steals in a Hawks win over the Timberwolves.
Wembanyama, specifically, is on one other defensive degree proper now with an unbelievable 29 blocks mixed over his final 4 video games. On Saturday, he turned simply the sixth participant in historical past to document 30 factors and 10 blocks in the identical sport and is now the primary participant since Anthony Davis to dam a minimum of eight photographs in two straight video games.
That is the 63rd straight sport that Wembanyama has recorded a minimum of one blocked shot, a Spurs document. He had 4 blocks within the first quarter and 6 inside the primary 16 minutes on Monday. Oh by the best way, Wemby additionally made six 3-pointers in Philadelphia. The one different participant in historical past to dam a minimum of eight photographs and make a minimum of six 3-pointers in the identical sport is Brook Lopez, who did it in 2017.
Filter the blocks right down to seven, and for the reason that NBA added the 3-point line 45 years in the past, Lopez continues to be the one one not named Wembanyama to dam seven photographs and make six 3s in the identical sport. Wemby has achieved it twice in fewer than 100 profession video games.
In the meantime, Daniels — the Australian in any other case generally known as “The Nice Barrier Thief” (among the finest nicknames you may ever hear) — ran his league-leading steals whole to 89, 33 extra picks than the subsequent most profitable thief, Oklahoma Metropolis’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (56). Wembanyama, in the meantime, is the league’s blocks chief by 31 (95-64 over Walker Kessler). These are ridiculous margins.
Daniels’ 89 steals is the very best quantity over the primary 28 video games of a season since Nate McMillan in 1993, per NBA College. The eight steals on Monday just isn’t solely a profession excessive for Daniels, but it surely additionally marks the sixth time this season that he is had a minimum of six steals.
No one has had six steals in six completely different video games in a complete season since Chris Paul in 2008-09. Once more, Daniels has achieved it in 28 video games. Hell, there have solely been 4 such video games by each different participant within the league mixed this season.
Collectively, Daniels and Wembanyama are the one two gamers within the league to place up 10 shares (steals plus blocks) in a sport this season. Daniels had two blocks on Monday to go together with his eight steals, making him the youngest participant in historical past to do this.
If Daniels manages to remain wholesome, he has an actual shot to turn into simply the seventh participant in historical past, and the primary in 35 years, to tally 250 steals in a single season. He is missed simply two video games to date and is averaging 3.2 steals an evening. He has 14 over his final two video games alone.
Maybe it’ll be arduous for some voters to correctly rank Daniels on the DPOY scale provided that the Hawks are a close to bottom-10 protection, however that’s only a delusional stance to take. This man isn’t just a steal service provider; he disrupts every thing. He is additionally the league’s deflections chief by a mile. He takes on the hardest defensive assignments each evening and makes life hell on the very best scorers on the earth. Minnesota star Anthony Edwards was was 7 for 20 from the sphere on Monday with 5 turnovers.
In a world the place Wembanyama did not exist, it could be Daniels with a legit case as the very best defender on the earth.
