San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama entered the 2026-27 NBA season as the consensus favorite to win the league's Most Valuable Player award for the first time. After finishing third in the MVP race last year and guiding the Spurs to the NBA Finals, the runway appeared cleared for the French wunderkind to take over the league this year.

So far, so good on that front. Through 11 games, Wembanyama is averaging a career-high 30.1 points, 11.9 rebounds and a league-leading 4.5 blocks per game. He's doing that in only 29.8 minutes per night, which puts his per-36-minute production in Wilt Chamberlain territory.

However, MVPs are not awarded based on per-36-minute stats. Actual production is all that matters. And while the Spurs' dominance to start the season bodes well for their chances of returning to the Finals, it could wind up hurting Wemby's MVP candidacy.

Mind the minutes gap

Three weeks into the season, Wemby and Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić are the two clear favorites in the MVP race. Their teams have the two best records in the Western Conference, and their individual production is otherworldly thus far.

Within the past week, Wembanyama had a 52-point, 24-rebound, eight-block game against the Dallas Mavericks and a 40-point, 11-rebound, nine-block outing against the Phoenix Suns. Since the NBA began officially recording blocks in the 1973-74 season, no player has ever had the former stat line, and David Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bob Lanier were the only three to do the latter.

The most terrifying part? Wemby needed only 25 minutes to put up that 40-11-9 line against Phoenix.

Wemby isn't the only extraterrestrial roaming NBA courts these days, though. Now that he's out of LeBron James' shadow, Skinny Luka is taking the league by storm as well. Through his first 10 games, he's averaging a league-leading 39.3 points, 7.9 assists, 7.8 rebounds, 5.5 made threes (!) and a career-high 2.0 steals per game. He's already had two 50-point games and four more 40-point games.

Unlike the Spurs, who are blowing out teams left and right, the Lakers have needed every one of those points, rebounds and assists from Luka most nights. Of their eight victories with Luka in the lineup, only three have come by more than a 10-point margin. As a result, he's averaging 36.3 minutes per game.

If that continues, it could set up a potentially problematic dichotomy for Wemby in the MVP race. Four of the Spurs' past five wins have come by 15-plus points, and he played fewer than 27 minutes in all four of those games. That hasn't stopped him from putting up monstrous stats regardless, but he did have a relatively quiet 12-point, 11-rebound night in a blowout win over the Utah Jazz on Nov. 2.

The Spurs' three-guard starting lineup is humming, and Tobias Harris, their major offseason addition, still hasn't even made his Spurs debut as he works his way back from a calf injury. The Spurs have largely been mowing down overmatched teams thus far, so Wemby will eventually have to break a sweat at some point, although their upcoming schedule doesn't feature many tough tests.

Given Wembanyama's unique size and frame, the Spurs always figure to be mindful and cautious with his minutes during the regular season. They know he's their ticket back to the Finals and will look to preserve him as much as possible throughout the 82-game grind. The Lakers might not have that same luxury with Luka.

Even if Wemby's per-game production pales in comparison to Luka's, his defensive impact could help sway voters toward him. Heck, the fact he's putting up even remotely comparable numbers in six fewer minutes per game might be another feather in his cap. But if Luka keeps up his torrid start to the season, voters might have a tough time not picking someone who's averaging 35-plus points per game to win MVP.

Wemby and the Spurs should be far more focused on winning this year's championship than any individual accolades, and they should manage his minutes accordingly. Playing him a few extra minutes per game in 30-point blowouts so he can stat-pad would be an unnecessary risk.

But if the Spurs maintain their early-season level of dominance moving forward and keep Wemby's playing time in check, that could wind up being the difference between him, Luka, Shai-Gilgeous Alexander or any other MVP hopeful.