From crying at the podium to carefully campaigning for his MVP status or randomly playing chess at a local park with fans, 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama has never failed to show his emotions. The 7-foot-4 French center has become a true media darling, earning prestigious accolades as he enters his first playoff season.

The Professional Basketball Writers Association (PFWA) announced on Thursday that Wembanyama has been named the 2025-26 Magic Johnson Award. “Victor Wembanyama thoroughly embodies the spirit of this award – as a superstar who is just as thoughtful and engaging off the court as he is dominant on the court,” said PBWA president Howard Beck. He further explained that the San Antonio Spurs star is not afraid to talk about the MVP race, or even if the subject is about social justice. “As one of our members put it, Victor is ‘a deep thinker who understands the power of his words.’”

Apart from the statement from PFWA, several esteemed writer and journalists from different media outlets shared their experiences on why Wemby was the right choice. Jared Weiss from The Athletic tweeted, “I wrote about one of my favorite moments with him this season, and included a collection of stories helping capture the true media darling he is.” Matt Guzman from SI did the same and even pointed out that Victor Wembanyama showed up for media duties when he was grieving the passing of his grandmother following the NBA Cup Final loss to the New York Knicks.

 

Similarly, Don Harris, veteran sports director and anchor for WOAI-TV News 4 San Antonio, even shared archived footage. “The day before the draft in 2023 was the first day I met Victor Wembanyama. He told us then why he embraced dealing with the media, unlike the Spurs greats before him.” In the video, Wemby added that he wanted to be the best not only on the court. Apart from being great at basketball, he wanted to be “best also at the media, press conference, and all this stuff.” Which is truly different from Spurs great Tim Duncan.

Famously, the Big Fundamental was never the one to share his feelings explicitly with the media. Speaking about his reserved nature, the 5x NBA champion once said, “I don’t feel comfortable putting myself out there. I’m just a basketball player, and I play the game. I go home.” His answers were short and straightforward, the opposite of Victor Wembanyama’s. As the French Phenom speaks after nearly every game he plays, taking questions from essentially any reporter in the room.

Moments that made Victor Wembanyama worthy of the award

He even exclusively speaks in French for the two reporters who have relocated from France to San Antonio to cover him full-time. Apart from the media, his relationship with the fans continues to grow. During his journey recovering from a blood clot last year, it led him to put the Jackals project together. The group is his full-time ultras supporters, who are now a staple of Spurs games. The fun loving 22-year-old is mature beyond his age, and it showed during his interaction about the fatal shooting by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis.

“I’m conscious, also, that saying everything that’s on my mind would have a cost that’s too great for me right now,” Wembanyama said. “I’d rather not get into too many details.” While he condemned the violence, he also stated that there would be consequences if he freely spoke what was going on in his mind. Wemby is also never afraid to ask questions and debate with the reporters. One instance was about his MVP candidacy, where the French star asked how he should structure his answer.

Then he eloquently pointed out three points that even got an acknowledgement from rival Draymond Green. Being an active listener, ready to take the feedback, asnwer candidly and deeply caring nature for the fans made him the right candidate.

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