NBA players poll: Rudy Gobert most overrated, Victor Wembanyama best defender / News - Basketnews.com

Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama got different treatment from their NBA peers in a recent poll for The Athletic. The Timberwolves big man was voted the league's most overrated player, while Wemby topped the Best Defender category.

Credit: SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP Credit SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP

A recent poll by The Athletic shared the majority opinion of NBA players on various topics.

Victor Wembanyama

MIN:29.66PTS:21.44 (54.28%)REB:10.63As:3.86ST:1.23BL:3.58TO:3.66GM:71ProfileNBA2023/2024

On Tuesday, Sam Amick and Josh Robbins ran an anonymous player poll that revealed how athletes feel about various topics regarding the league.

Among the 133 players interviewed, 41.8% believe Nikola Jokic should win MVP, 52.4% would pick Victor Wembanyama (27.9%) or Nikola Jokic (27.2%) to start a team from scratch, and 45.9% voted for Michael Jordan as the greatest player of all time.

One of the most disrespected players in the poll was Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert. The French big man didn’t receive a single vote from any of the 132 players polled in the Best Defender question.

Gobert won the Defensive Player of the Year award three times in four years from 2018-2021. He’s a three-time All-Star, but none of the NBA players asked think he's the best defender in the league.

"There’s just something about Gobert’s game that his peers don’t like. Maybe the skepticism stems from a lack of playoff success, as none of Gobert’s teams have advanced to the conference finals. Or maybe it all traces back to the bubble in 2020, when the Clippers’ Terance Mann buried all those 3s over Gobert in the West semifinals and sparked serious scrutiny about the perceived limitations of the big man’s game," The Athletic added.

Players voted Victor Wembanyama as the league’s best defender right now. The Frenchman, who received 15.2% of total votes, led the league in blocks, averaging 3.58 per game. Victor Wembanyama averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 71 games this season.

His next closest competitor, Utah’s Walker Kessler, recorded 2.41 blocks per game.

Jrue Holiday followed with 12.9% of the votes, and Luguenz Dort came in second with 9.8%.

When the question, 'Who’s the most overrated player?' came up, the 81 players asked gave Gobert the most votes with 13.6%, while Jordan Poole followed with 8.6%.

Thank you for reading us! We have even more content for you.