NBA Notebook: Anthony Edwards, Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, OG Anunoby, Kelly Oubre, Patrick Williams

As we saw in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, Victor Wembanyama’s hype is nowhere close to being over. He’s a mesmerizing player with a unique skill set, but he may not be the best rookie in the NBA. Per HoopsHype’s Global Rating, the early Rookie of the Year race has a frontrunner, Chet Holmgren, with a decent lead over Wembanyama.

Wembanyama is actually rated closer to the third-ranked rookie, Dereck Lively II. The 19-year-old Mavericks rookie, is giving us some prime DeAndre Jordan vibes. At this point, the former Duke big man looks like the starting center for Luka Doncic‘s Mavericks for years to come. It’s not only for his rim protection, but for his potential to be on the receiving end of many Doncic assists and “Luka assists.”

But at this point, it’s reasonable to think Wembanyama and Holmgren are the clear favorites for the award. Basic numbers for both players look similar, but the Thunder center has been way more efficient as a scorer, including a whopping 55.6 percent from three and 90 percent from the foul line. Meanwhile, Wembanyama is shooting worse and averaging two turnovers per assist so far in his young career, the worst in the league among players with at least 200 minutes on the court this season.

Of course, there are factors which have played in Holmgren’s favor. On one hand, he’s teaming up with one of the best players in the NBA, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, thus avoiding the primary focus of the opposing defense. Wembanyama, however, will be the top assignment on opponents’ scouting reports. Holmgren is surrounded by notable playmakers, including  Josh Giddey, a creative pass-first playmaker. In Wembanyama’s case, not so much, and that’s mostly on Gregg Popovich. His experiment using power forward Jeremy Sochan, a work in progress as a playmaker, as the starting point guard over Tre Jones is not making the Spurs better for now.

Questioning one of the all-time great coaches is a risky proposition, but numbers speak for themselves. When Wembanyama is on the court with Jones, the Spurs are +52 this season, by far the best pairing possible in the squad. But when Wemby is paired with Sochan, Popovich’s squad is a team-worst -80. On paper, on the court and on the stat sheet, playing Wembanyama as much as possible with the best playmaker of his team looks like a no-brainer. In reality, we’ve only seen it during 14.5 minutes per game so far.

Meanwhile in OKC, Holmgren has been consistent. Besides a 4-for-14 effort against Atlanta, he’s scored in double-digits with at least 55 percent shooting in every game. We haven’t seen any monster game from him yet, but it’s hard to remember such a consistent start for an NBA career. All while showing all the layers of his all-around game as a shooter, defender, and ball-handler. It may be the benefit of spending a year around NBA players while injured, but his adjustment to the league looks better than Wembanyama’s.

The season only started a few weeks ago, and unforeseen twists and turns are a constant in the league. There’s a solid argument that the ceiling of Wembanyama is higher than Holmgren as he grows more comfortable around NBA defenses. But at the very least, Holmgren is proving to be a worthy opponent for the Rookie of the Year race and another stepping stone for Oklahoma City’s promising future.

– Alberto De Roa

You can follow Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto), Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan), and Frank Urbina (@FrankUrbina_), and Alberto De Roa (@TikotDeRoa) on X, formerly known as Twitter.