How Hakeem Olajuwon's message led Victor Wembanyama to unanimous NBA DPOY win

How Hakeem Olajuwon's message led Victor Wembanyama to unanimous NBA DPOY win originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

'Standing on the shoulders of giants' is more often used as a metaphor. This was not the case for Victor Wembanyama. He had great San Antonio Spurs big men like Tim Duncan and David Robinson to look up to as he developed. However, it was a Houston Rockets legend who inspired him to embark in hunting his first NBA DPOY — Hakeem Olajuwon.

Olajuwon sent Spurs' Wembanyama a message that led to NBA DPOY win

Victor Wembanyama broke multiple records after winning his first NBA DPOY. The Spurs big man was the youngest-ever to win it and also has a chance to usurp Derrick Rose for his title of being the youngest NBA MVP. A lot of that would not happen if previous Spurs greats like David Robinson and Tim Duncan had not helped.

While those two will always be on Wembanyama's side, Hakeem Olajuwon was the one who likely moved the needle in this journey to become the greatest defensive player in league history. The newly-crowned Spurs NBA DPOY outlined the message he got from the Rockets legend, via NBA on NBC.

"I'm smiling because I was just reminding myself of the time I was actually at Hakeem's and looking at this plaque, you know, saying basically a block shots leader all time, right? And he was like, You're gonna beat that one day. So, you know, one step at a time," the Spurs big man said.