Image Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

Why Victor Wembanyama is an Official Blocks Leader Despite Not Meeting NBA’s Stat Minimum Requirements?

This is the 2nd year in a row Wembanyama has led the league in blocks

Image Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama sustained an injury during the All-Star break due to deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder. This injury ruled him out for the remainder of the season. Due to his absence, the Spurs couldn’t perform well in the regular season and finished 13th in the West with a 34-48 record.

Wembanyama was a potential contender for the Defensive Player of the Year award for the 2024-25 season but his season-ending injury made him ineligible for this honor. The Spurs center played only 46 games this season out of 82. The Frenchman would have won the DPOY award had he qualified. However, he still finished as an official blocks leader of the season.

Victor Wembanyama hasn't played since February 12th.

He still led the NBA in blocks… by 28 🤯 pic.twitter.com/pMk1hB6IgX
— Underdog (@Underdog) April 14, 2025

The Spurs All-Star was deemed ineligible for awards such as All-NBA and All-Defensive teams. Wembanyama did not meet the 65-game threshold which is a criteria for NBA awards.

Also Read: 2024-25 NBA Regular Season Player Stat Leaders

Why Victor Wembanyama is blocks leader of the season?

Victor Wembanyama, who hasn’t played since Feb. 12, has become the official blocks leader of the season. The Frenchman averaged 3.83 blocks per game in 46 games. He doesn’t match the 65-game threshold but still ended up as the stat leader.

As per the NBA’s stat minimum requirements page, there is an exception in the rule book. To decide the stat leader for the season, the criteria are more lenient. A player doesn’t need to play 65 games in a season. Instead, a player must participate in 70% of a team’s games. But, Wembanyama again miss out this requirement as he did not reach 58 games.

The official 2024-25 NBA season leaders include:

PPG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
RPG: Domantas Sabonis
APG: Trae Young
BPG: Victor Wembanyama
SPG: Dyson Daniels

This is the first season that the leaders in these five per-game categories are from five different countries. pic.twitter.com/qo2OyKMqGg
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 14, 2025

Wemby still found an exemption which allowed the Spurs star to qualify for stat leader. As per the rule book, a player would have led the league in the category had he played the required number of games with his current category total. The player could still qualify if his average over 58 games was higher than any other player.

We can understand this through an example. Myles Turner had 159 blocks in 47 games in a 72-game season in 2020-21 and he fell short of four games to meet the 51-game threshold. His average was greater than Rudy Gobert, who met the 51-game criteria.

Also Read: NBA’s 2024–2025 Defensive Player of the Year Race: Who Should Win the Award This Season?

Due to the exception, Wembanyama still led the NBA in total blocks with 176 which is 28 more than 2nd placed Brook Lopez, who had 148 blocks in 80 games. The Spurs star would have still averaged just over 3 blocks per game if we adjusted his games to 58. His average will still overtake runner-up Walker Kesler’s 2.4 in 58 games.

Here’s the final tally for blocks leader:

1. Victor Wembanyama – 176 blocks
2. Brook Lopez – 148
3. Myles Turner – 144
4. Walker Kessler – 138
T5. Evan Mobley – 113
T5. Jaren Jackson Jr – 113

This is the 2nd year in a row Wemby has led the league in blocks. As a rookie last year, the Spurs star blocked 254 shots in 71 games, with only 3 other players bettering his 176 from this season.

Image Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

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Gulshan Sharma

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A native of Jaipur, Rajasthan, journalist, and a complete soccer and basketball fan, he found the huge interest with basketball by watching videos of Allen Iverson and Tony Parker, but fell head over heels in love with the sport during the Warriors’ championship era (2015-2018). A sports game addict since his late PS1, he’s also passionate about the Eagles, Inter Miami and the Fever. He’s fortunate to have seen all his favorite teams win championships. He also has a special love for cricket and football (soccer), where he is a fan of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Barcelona.