Kendrick Perkins and Michael Wilbon sat down on ESPN's First Take to pick over Victor Wembanyama's landmark Defensive Player of the Year win — the first unanimous DPOY since the award was introduced in 1982 — and ended up in a place few saw coming when the Frenchman arrived in 2022. Both men declared, on camera, that Wembanyama is now the best defensive player they have ever personally seen play.
"I don't want my brother KG getting mad at me, but it's facts over feelings," Perkins said. "And hell yeah, he's the best defensive player I've ever laid my eyes on. He got my vote this year. He's going to continue to get my vote. And this is the first of many."
Perkins argued that Wembanyama's defensive versatility at seven-foot-plus is the separator. He pointed to the 22-year-old's work in drop coverage, his ability to switch onto smaller guards and slide with them, and the league-wide data that teams are actively refusing to drive the lane against the Spurs.
"Teams do not drive to the basket. They are scared to drive to the basket," Perkins said. "In order to beat the Spurs, you got to be able to knock down tough, contested three-point shots."
Wilbon, who has covered the league long enough to have watched Hakeem Olajuwon, Dennis Rodman and Ben Wallace in their primes, was a tougher sell on the all-time crown at first but came around.
"I'm not old enough to have seen the great Mr. Bill Russell," Wilbon said. "I saw Akeem in his prime all the time. I was around covering the league for that. And I saw Dennis Rodman when he was a menace. Rodman took Shaq out of games."
Even so, Wilbon conceded the list of serious challengers is short. "If Wimby stays healthy, he's going to have seven or eight Defensive Player of the Year awards," he said. "Seven to eight of them. Not four or five, not six or seven or eight."
The agreement ended the moment the conversation turned to June. Asked whether Wembanyama can carry San Antonio through Nikola Jokic's Nuggets and the defending-champion Thunder, Wilbon hit the brakes.
"No. And I am captain of team Wimby," he said. Wilbon argued that NBA championship pursuit is defined by "despair" — the idea that almost every great player has to lose a brutal series before they win one. He cited only three exceptions: Bill Russell, Magic Johnson and Tim Duncan.
"Do I think that Wimby can lead a team past Denver and OKC if it comes to that this year? I'm putting the brakes on," Wilbon said. "Either Denver or OKC — and maybe OKC, defending champs, they get him after he comes out of a seven-game grueling series with Denver. Is he then going to pick it up and go beat OKC?"
Perkins refused to back down. "I continue to stay on that hill by myself right now, Wilbon," he said. "I got the Spurs winning the championship this year. And yes, it's because of the generational talent of Wimby, but it's the others" — pointing to presumptive Sixth Man favourite Kell Johnson and a roster Perkins argued San Antonio has quietly modelled on Oklahoma City.
Wilbon, for his part, says he is closer to crossing the line than he lets on. "Perk, I'm close. I'm like close to giving in on my own," he admitted, before reasserting his rule about history.
For a 22-year-old who has already rewritten the DPOY ballot, the title question may not stay hypothetical for long.
