Wembanyama Got 77% of GMs' MVP Picks — the Spurs Are Now Title Favorites
GOATIFYVictor Wembanyama has not played a regular-season minute in 2026-27, but the NBA's decision-makers have already placed an enormous target on San Antonio. In the annual general managers' survey, 77% picked the Spurs star to win MVP, 93% chose him as the player they would build a franchise around, and half selected San Antonio to win the championship. Those are not small edges in a league crowded with established superstars. They are a statement that the balance of power may be changing.
The numbers create a fascinating tension. Wembanyama is being treated as both the league's most important future asset and its most likely immediate winner. Yet Nikola Jokić remains the executives' choice at center, Oklahoma City is still a formidable title rival, and the Spurs have to turn last season's Finals experience into something more durable. The survey is a snapshot of belief, not a trophy. What matters now is whether Wembanyama and a young supporting cast can make that belief look reasonable over 82 games and four playoff rounds.
The MVP landslide is really a verdict on San Antonio's timeline
Front offices usually separate two questions: whom they would want for the next decade and whom they trust to win this season. Wembanyama has blurred that distinction. His 93% share of the franchise-building vote was overwhelming, but the 77% MVP vote is more striking because it requires projecting performance right now. Jokić received 10% of the MVP vote and Anthony Edwards 7%, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jayson Tatum also receiving support. That distribution says the executives see a clear favorite before opening night rather than a conventional five-player race.
There is a reason for the confidence. San Antonio reached the 2026 Finals behind a young core that can defend with unusual length, generate mismatches around its center and grow together rather than relying on a brief veteran window. Wembanyama is entering his fourth NBA season and will not turn 23 until January. When a player that young is already the focal point of a Finals team, the normal development curve starts to look inadequate as a forecast. Every improved decision against a double-team, every cleaner pass out of pressure and every possession where he avoids a cheap foul can have championship-level consequences.
Still, an MVP projection is not the same as an MVP case. He will need the games played, the sustained offensive efficiency and the team record to support it. The Spurs cannot simply be competitive in the West; they are being asked to contend with Oklahoma City and Denver while opponents spend the entire season designing coverages around him. That is the difference between being a fascinating talent and carrying the burden of an established favorite.
The defensive advantage is bigger than his blocked-shot total
The defensive voting was even more decisive than the MVP ballot. An extraordinary 97% named Wembanyama the league's best defender, and the same share chose him as its best interior defender. Those results capture more than a reputation for spectacular blocks. His presence changes the geometry of an offense before the shot goes up. A guard who beats the first defender still has to decide whether a floater, a lob or a retreat dribble is worth challenging a player who can protect the rim and recover to the perimeter.
That is why his value often appears in possessions without a recorded block. Drivers pull up early. Roll men hesitate. A wing who expects a clean cut discovers that the passing lane has closed. The Spurs can pressure the ball more aggressively when the back line covers unusual distances, although they still need disciplined help, rebounding and transition defense to turn that advantage into stops. Stephon Castle and the rest of the perimeter group matter because Wembanyama cannot be asked to erase every breakdown for 48 minutes.
There is also a useful warning in the same survey: 77% of general managers picked Oklahoma City, not San Antonio, as the NBA's best defensive team. The Spurs drew 20%. That gap shows the difference between possessing the most intimidating individual defender and fielding the most dependable five-man system. A title team needs both. If San Antonio becomes more consistent at navigating screens, finishing defensive possessions with rebounds and keeping opponents out of early offense, Wembanyama's shot-blocking threat becomes the foundation of a truly elite unit rather than a nightly rescue mission.
Jokić still owns the center debate — and that reveals Wembanyama's next leap
The survey's most revealing contradiction may be at center. Although Wembanyama dominates the MVP and franchise-building questions, 63% still call Nikola Jokić the NBA's best center, compared with 37% for Wembanyama. That is not a rejection of the Spurs star. It is recognition that Jokić remains the benchmark for making an entire offense function, reading the second defender and delivering the right pass before the defense realizes it has been beaten.
Wembanyama's offensive ceiling is different but equally disruptive. He can score over switches, face up from distance, finish lobs outside ordinary passing windows and turn a harmless entry pass into a post mismatch. The next jump is about how often he creates an efficient shot for somebody else when opponents load two defenders toward him. He does not need to copy Jokić's passing artistry. He needs to make the defense pay for every extra body it sends, especially late in close games when predictable isolations can become a trap.
The general managers already believe he changes opposing game plans: 47% chose Wembanyama as the player forcing the most adjustments, ahead of Jokić at 33%. That is an important distinction from pure scoring. Opponents must decide whether to concede a favorable matchup to a teammate, invite a three-point attempt or live with Wembanyama catching near the rim. If San Antonio's guards punish those choices quickly, the defense cannot keep crowding him. If the passing and spacing stall, even the best individual talent can be forced into difficult, low-percentage possessions.
That is why the Jokić comparison should be treated as a roadmap rather than a rivalry scoreboard. The Spurs already have an extraordinary finisher and defender. Building a championship offense around him requires the same ruthless clarity that Denver has long extracted from its superstar.
Harper, Castle and the Thunder will decide whether the predictions survive
San Antonio's biggest argument is that Wembanyama does not have to carry the whole transformation alone. Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper give the Spurs young ball-handling talent that can attack a bent defense, while the roster's length allows the coaching staff to experiment with lineups that defend multiple positions. The survey named San Antonio the league's strongest young core by a wide margin, and Harper was also singled out as a likely breakout player. Those votes matter because a playoff run is usually decided by the possessions when the superstar is trapped, tired or on the bench.
Harper's challenge is especially interesting. He can pressure the paint, run the second unit and develop the quick decisions that keep a defense from resetting after Wembanyama draws attention. Castle provides a different type of leverage with his physicality and defensive work. Neither needs to become an All-NBA scorer overnight. The more practical objective is to ensure San Antonio can manufacture good possessions against the best switching and help schemes in the West.
One preseason example illustrates how this can work without demanding hero-ball. In a 123-103 win over Phoenix, Wembanyama scored 19 points and blocked four shots in only 23 minutes, while Castle added 18. The Spurs made 13 three-pointers and earned 35 free-throw attempts, an encouraging combination of spacing and pressure on the rim. It was only an exhibition against a depleted Suns lineup, so the score should not be confused with proof of championship readiness. The useful signal is stylistic: when San Antonio gets downhill, shares the ball and forces opponents to defend both the paint and the arc, Wembanyama can exert a huge influence without dominating every possession. Against a healthy playoff opponent, the same idea will require faster decisions and better protection of the ball. Harper's growth matters because the Spurs need more than one guard who can start that chain reaction. They also need enough shooting around their big man that a collapsing defense faces a genuine cost, not an easy invitation to pack the lane.
There is no coronation here. The Spurs received 50% of championship votes, but Oklahoma City was close behind at 43%. The Thunder still have the continuity, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's shot creation and the defensive discipline to punish an opponent's smallest mistakes. A Finals rematch is not guaranteed, and Denver, Minnesota and other challengers will have a say. A preseason poll cannot forecast injuries, shooting variance or the way a young roster responds after its first prolonged losing stretch.
The most useful reading of the vote is therefore not that San Antonio has already become the best team. It is that the league's executives believe the Spurs have enough talent to be judged by championship standards now. For Wembanyama, that changes the conversation from potential to execution.
The survey is a powerful endorsement, but its most important detail is the gap between the individual and team questions. Wembanyama is the overwhelming pick for the future, for MVP and for interior defense. The Spurs are only a narrow favorite over Oklahoma City to win the title, and Jokić still commands the center vote. That is what makes the coming season compelling: the player may already be extraordinary, while the complete championship formula is still being tested.
San Antonio does not need a perfect October. It needs better decisions against pressure, more reliable perimeter defense and enough offensive creation from Harper, Castle and the supporting cast to keep Wembanyama from facing five defenders on every crucial possession. If those improvements arrive, the preseason predictions could look conservative. If they do not, the GM survey will become a reminder that even the clearest future superstar cannot win four playoff rounds alone.
