Fanatics Sportsbook announced plans to pay out all NBA Defensive Player of the Year bets on Victor Wembanyama, despite the transcendent star being set to miss the rest of the season.
The move, which comes courtesy of the book’s Fair Play policy, will also refund all parlay wagers that included Wemby’s presumptive DPOY campaign.
The decision follows news that Wembanyama would be sidelined with deep vein thrombosis in the right shoulder, a form of a blood clot that will require him out of action for the foreseeable future.
Fair is Fair. 🤝 With Wemby out for the season, we're paying out all DPOY bets as a WIN and refunding all Parlay wagers, courtesy of Fair Play. pic.twitter.com/ReEsVgCJIB
— Fanatics Sportsbook (@FanaticsBook) February 21, 2025
The Spurs reportedly believe this is an isolated incident, and expect their franchise cornerstone to be ready for next season.
“You can't replace Vic,” Spurs guard Chris Paul said. “I can't stand on a guy's shoulders and block every shot that comes to the rim. Aside from his basketball ability, his charisma and what he brings into the locker room, I think, is what we'll miss the most.”
“The medical experts and the people that are smarter than everybody in the room ... confirm that he’ll be done this year, and that there is no concern for Victor’s long-term health personally, or anything related to his basketball activities,” Spurs acting head coach Mitch Johnson added.
Prior to his injury, Fanatics had the French big man at a near-certain -2500 to take home the Hakeem Olajuwon as the league’s best defender, or an almost laughably high implied probability of 96%.
Among his most incredible defensive feats, Wembanyama had put up an astounding and league-leading 3.8 blocks per game – an incomprehensible 1.4 blocks per game ahead of second-best Walker Kessler and the same gap as between Kessler and 28th-ranked Portland Trail Blazers big man Jerami Grant.
Lines swing dramatically in response
With Wembanyama’s historic season on ice, the league’s new favorite in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year odds is Memphis Grizzlies forward and 2023 DPOY Jaren Jackson Jr., whose odds spiked from +2,000 prior to the injury to -125.
Trailing behind him is Cleveland Cavaliers breakout big Evan Mobley, whose defensive chops have been matched this season by a continued evolution in his offensive capabilities, much to the benefit of the Cavaliers who have skyrocketed to the top of the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
Beyond Jackson Jr. and Mobley, other substantial benefactors in the Defensive Player of the Year races were Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (+6,000 to +1,200) as well as Oklahoma City Thunder wing Lu Dort, (+4,000 to +2,000), though both still remain longshots to win the award.
That doesn’t mean the pair doesn’t have their supporters, especially Dort, who serves as the best defender on the NBA’s top squad.
"The range of who he can guard defensively is an underrated element of him as a defender," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said of Dort earlier this year. "I think when you think of him as a defender, you think of him squaring up a guy like James Harden or Luka Doncic and chesting those guys.
"That's impressive, and he does a great job on those types of players, but you can play him down with speed guards, where he can really impose his physicality, and then you can play him up to big wings and big fours, and we've done that as well."
