Winning his first unanimous DPOY and being in the top 3 of this year’s MVP race certainly increased Victor Wembanyama’s stock value, especially for super agent Rich Paul, who at first wanted the French phenom to be a little more efficient. A few months later, LeBron James’s close aide is convinced that the San Antonio Spurs‘ star is the right person to take over the torch.

“Wemby will be the face of the league. I’m convinced. He allows you to buy into his humility while also bringing it every night on both ends of the floor. We all love the giants anyway. That’s always been the NBA. As I watch him more and more, it’s hard to not want to see this guy win.”

This campaign for the 22-year-old is not new from Rich Paul.

A few months ago, Paul suggested the French phenom could take over the face of league tag from LeBron James. “It’s two things. If he stays healthy, and if people don’t try to penalize him for how it looks. Most people try to penalize you because it didn’t look like their goat. It’s just about his body of work. My answer is yes,” Paul said. “If Wemby decides that this is how he’s going to play, the league is in trouble.” And Wemby has truly stamped his authority in the meantime.

After boldly stating his goal of winning both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, the 22-year-old captured the DPOY award on Monday. He made history as the first unanimous winner and the youngest recipient since the award began in the 1982-83 season. Let’s not forget he is competing with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic for the MVP trophy. He is doing that in his third year in the league.

This season, Victor Wembanyama has led the Spurs to become a genuine threat to OKC. He recently led San Antonio to ten straight wins, which is their first 10-game win streak since 2015-16.

Now, Rich Paul knows what extraordinary talent looks like, after all, he has witnessed the rise and hype of LeBron James from the very first time the 41-year-old stepped foot in the league.

He has been the face of the NBA over the past two decades, from being called the ‘Chosen One,’ to winning 4 championships and dominating the majority of stats, regular or postseason.

Since the 22x All-Star enters the twilight of his career, it makes sense for other players actually to step up. That’s why Paul believes Wembanyama’s combination of humility, elite two-way performance, and unique “larger-than-life” presence places him in the driver’s seat.

Victor Wembanyama details struggles for his DPOY accolade

At just 22 years old, Wembanyama swept all 100 first-place votes. A feat that even legends like Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo, Dwight Howard, and Rudy Gobert did not achieve. He is leading the league with 3.1 blocks per game and dominates the paint, but this year again could have been about the missed opportunity.

Last year, an unexpected, life-threatening blood clot issue cut that campaign short, as voters were convinced that after 46 games, he should be DPOY.

In the off-season, he trained at a Shaolin temple in China with the monks and worked under former DPOY Hakeem Olajuwon. But again, he missed several games in November due to a calf strain. That again put his eligibility under duress.

“The real struggle, the real struggle might have been getting to 65 games,” Victor Wembanyama told the NBC crew with his mom next to him to celebrate the moment. “I’m super, super happy to win this award and actually super proud to be the first ever unanimous.”

He entered the final week of the season sitting at 63 games, needing to play in two of the final three contests to secure his hardware. After several near misses, he secured his eligibility for the DPOY and MVP race with 65 games.

With constant performance and availability, Rich Paul believes this is the beginning of the domination that Wemby possesses.