Wembanyama Injury Causes HUGE Shakeup in NBA Defensive Player of the Year Odds
By Sascha Paruk in NBA Basketball
Published:
- Victor Wembanyama has been shut down for the season by the San Antonio Spurs
- Wemby was the heavy favorite in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year odds before the news
- See the current NBA Defensive Player of the Year for everyone still on the board
Unwelcome news out of San Antonio on Thursday morning as the Spurs announced All-Star center Victor Wembanyama (24.3 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 3.7 APG) would be shut down for the rest of the season due to deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. Wemby was the odds-on favorite to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year in just his second season in the league, while his Spurs were sitting just 3.5 games back of a berth in the Play-In Tournament as of Thursday morning. Both the DPOY odds and playoff futures moved significantly after today’s announcement.
Updated NBA Defensive Player of the Year Odds
Wembanyama was sitting at -2500 to win his first NBA DPOY before the injury news, which equates to a 96.15% implied win probability. Ahead of last season, the NBA implemented a 65-game minimum for most major awards, including Defensive Player of the Year. Wemby has played
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Now that Wembanyama is out, Memphis forward Jaren Jackson Jr has taken over as the -115 favorite in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year odds. Cleveland’s Evan Mobley is a close second at +115 in what oddsmakers now see as a tight two-horse race.
Jackson is averaging 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, and 1.3 steals per game in 29.8 MPG the Grizzlies, who are still, against the odds, sitting second in the Western Conference.
Mobley is averaging 9.1 rebounds per game along with 1.5 blocks and 0.9 steals while playing exactly 30.0 minutes a night for a Cavs team that’s opened a 5.5-game lead atop the Eastern Conference standings.
Third-favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s also the NBA MVP favorite, is priced at a distant +1900. Houston guard Dyson Daniels (+2200) is the only other player shorter than +2900.
Jackson won the award two years ago. Rudy Gobert, who has won four times (2018, 2019, 2021, 2024), is now a +4800 longshot to win DPOY for a fifth-time, which would set a new record. Gobert currently shares the record for most DPOY wins with Ben Wallace and the late Dikembe Mutombo.
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Sascha has been working in the sports-betting industry since 2014, and quickly paired his strong writing skills with a burgeoning knowledge of probability and statistics. He holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics and a Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia.
