Wembanyama unanimous DPOY

Victor Wembanyama won the NBA’s 2025-26 Defensive Player of the Year award on Monday, and every first-place voter picked him. (nba.com) The league said the San Antonio Spurs center received all 100 first-place votes from a global media panel. NBA.com and ESPN both reported he is the first unanimous winner since the award began in 1982-83. (nba.com) (espn.com) Wembanyama is 22 and in his third NBA season, which made him the youngest Defensive Player of the Year in league history, according to the NBA and USA Today. Chet Holmgren of the Oklahoma City Thunder finished second in the voting, and Ausar Thompson of the Detroit Pistons finished third. (nba.com) (usatoday.com) The award recognizes the league’s top defender over the regular season, not the playoffs. This year’s result arrived on April 20 as the 2026 postseason was already moving through early first-round games. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) That timing put Wembanyama’s regular-season case next to a live playoff bracket. USA Today’s April 20 roundup said every first-round series had moved to Game 2, and Minnesota beat Denver that night. (usatoday.com) Wembanyama’s win also extends a Spurs line in this award. NBC Sports noted he is the first player to win it in his third season since David Robinson, another San Antonio great. (nbcsports.com) The vote was not close, but the finalist list showed the next wave of frontcourt defenders around him. Holmgren reached the final three for Oklahoma City, and Thompson did the same for Detroit. (sports.yahoo.com) For the Spurs, the award lands before any playoff run of their own. For the league, it puts Wembanyama’s name alone on a Defensive Player of the Year ballot that had never before ended 100-0. (nba.com)