Victor Wembanyama won Rookie of the Year, excelling in various stats, including leading the league in blocks per game Ja Morant holds offensive advantages, showcasing playmaking skills and efficiency in key categories.
Wembanyama shines defensively, dominating in advanced stats like blocks and rebounds, while Morant shows defensive growth.
Victor Wembanyama is coming off an incredible rookie campaign where he showed the NBA why he was selected first overall in the 2023 NBA Draft and was one of the most hyped-up prospects in the history of the NBA. He came into the league hoping to translate his skills from his playing time in the French League, which he was dominating before being drafted to the NBA.
After a slow start with the San Antonio Spurs , Wembanyama proved his value translated to the NBA by winning the Rookie of the Year award in a landslide, winning all 99 first-place votes. He was first among rookies in points per game and rebounds per game, second in steals per game, and third in assists per game. His 3.6 blocks per game also led all players in the entire NBA by over a block per game.
His stats were incredibly impressive for a rookie, and he showed vast improvement from the start of the season to the end of the season. Recently, he was ranked as the 18th best player in the upcoming NBA 2K25 , which has sparked a debate about whether he is better than the explosive, high-flying Ja Morant , who he was ranked above
Offensive Differences Between Wembanyama and Morant
Offensively, both Wembanyama and Morant are very talented and both likely haven’t reached their peak at that end of the floor. Heading into the 2024-25 NBA season, the offensive advantage would likely go to Morant, who has proven himself as a dominant rim-running guard.
An underrated aspect of Morant’s game that often gets overlooked is his playmaking abilities. His elite driving ability creates so many opportunities for potential assists. He averaged 8.1 assists per game in 2022-23, which was good enough for seventh in the NBA.
Wembanyama is still raw at the offensive end, but he does have some advantages over Morant. Although neither is elite from the three-point line, Wembnayama is already as good of a three-point shooter as Morant has been throughout his career and shot more threes per game than Morant has in any season of his NBA career.
Wembanyama and Morant – Offensive Advanced Stats
Category
Wembanyama 2023-24
Morant 2022-23
TS%
56.5%
55.7%
AST%
21.5%
41.1%
TOV%
16.2%
12.6%
USG%
32.2%
34.9%
OWS
-0.7
3.4
OBPM
1.9
5.2
Morant shows clear advantages offensively in several categories, including in how often he assists his teammates, his ability to take care of the ball, and how effective he is overall on the offensive side of the court. Their true shooting is also close, despite Morant being more than a foot shorter than Wembanyama.
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