Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers made a big decision to help ice a critical win over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday. The 7-foot-3

According to the NBA's most recent MVP ladder, Wembanyama is fourth in the running to win the Michael Jordan Trophy, behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. His two dominant performances against Jokic and the Denver Nuggets are key reasons why he jumped ahead from the fifth spot, passing Jayson Tatum.

The latter has turned around in a major way. Since Dec. 1, Wembanyama is making 37% of his 3s on over nine attempts per game. Put that together with his 77% finishing rate at the rim, which Cleaning the Glass ranks in the 86th percentile among all bigs, and Wembanyama already ranks as one of the most dominant inside-out scorers in the league.

The Bucks had a plan to make the second-year Spurs phenom uncomfortable. Antetokounmpo and his teammates executed that plan to perfection.

Milwaukee Bucks power forward Bobby Portis thinks that a recent foe, not his current two-time MVP teammate, is a contender to become the best defender in the history of the NBA. The 6-foot-10 Arkansas product,

Victor Wembanyama didn't back down from the challenge of going up against one of the best players in the NBA on Wednesday. As the San Antonio Spurs faced

Giannis Antetokounmpo fell just short of back-to-back triple-doubles, but the Bucks remain red-hot from long range in an easy victory over the Spurs.

Victor Wembanyama is currently averaging 4.0 blocks per game.

Grimes has taken advantage of added minutes by averaging 14.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.2 3-pointers over those 12 games. He has also attempted at least 12 shots in each of his last six games. Dončić isn’t close to returning and Irving could miss another week or two. Until the Mavericks get healthy, Grimes is a must-add.

Lastly, fan voting returns from Thursday suggest that LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets has a strong chance to be voted as a starter. He leads all East backcourt players in fan voting. Given Ball's time missed to injury (11 games so far) and Charlotte's lowly 8-27 record, his safest path to the All-Star Game is as a starter.

Being a top-level athlete demands exemplary rigor when it comes to diet. And when you're over 2m20 tall, that discipline has to be doubled. Victor Wembanyama is a true phenomenon, as much for his talent as for his unique way of playing basketball.