A community poll collecting more than 75,000 votes on NBA Bluesky ranked Victor Wembanyama No. 1 among basketball’s best players under 25 — a position that aligns with every major media ranking and requires no debate.
What follows Wembanyama on the list is where things get interesting.
The fan-voted top 10, shared widely on social media this week, places four players who have never appeared in an NBA regular-season game ahead of established league talent. Dylan Harper, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 draft, sits at No. 2. Cooper Flagg, the Dallas Mavericks rookie who finished as Rookie of the Year runner-up, lands at No. 3. Then come AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson — elite prospects still years from their first NBA tip — at Nos. 4 and 5.
Stephon Castle, the Spurs’ Rookie of the Year winner, checks in at No. 6. Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson, more prospects with zero NBA minutes, follow at Nos. 7 and 8.
That’s five players in the top eight who haven’t logged a single NBA possession.
Now, I’ve spent enough years watching film to know you don’t hand a kid a varsity letter jacket because he looked good in 7-on-7. Potential is a promissory note, and promissory notes bounce. But 75,000 people looked at this ballot and decided that what a teenager might become matters more than what a 22-year-old already is.
The poll’s middle tier reveals the cost of that thinking. Chet Holmgren, who anchored the Thunder’s frontcourt on a 64-win team, sits at No. 12. Paolo Banchero, a former No. 1 overall pick and All-Star, dropped to No. 16. Alperen Sengun, an established NBA starter for the Rockets, barely cracked the top 18.
The ROTY race adds context. ClutchPoints’ media poll of 50 NBA reporters gave Kon Knueppel 30 first-place votes to Flagg’s 20, with Knueppel leading the league in three-pointers made as a rookie — a feat no first-year player had ever accomplished. Flagg, meanwhile, posted numbers comparable only to LeBron James’s rookie season. Knueppel landed at No. 11 on the fan list. VJ Edgecombe, who finished a distant third in ROTY voting, placed No. 10.
Wembanyama’s grip on the top spot is the one thing nobody disputes. He finished third in MVP voting this season behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, receiving five first-place votes. FanSided’s own 25-under-25 rankings placed him No. 1 as well, noting he’s added 30 pounds of muscle and may have grown another inch — listed at 7-foot-5, believed to be closer to 7-foot-7. A blood clot cut short what would have been his first Defensive Player of the Year campaign; he’s the presumptive winner this season if he stays healthy.
The Spurs have surrounded him with talent. De’Aaron Fox arrived at last year’s trade deadline. Castle won Rookie of the Year. Harper, the No. 2 pick, joins the backcourt. The roster is built for Wemby the way a ranch is built around its best pasture — everything feeds the crown jewel.
But the poll’s real story isn’t Wembanyama. It’s the gap between what fans believe about prospects and what those prospects have actually done. Ranking a high schooler above a 64-win team’s starting center is betting on the calf before you’ve seen him run.
The film doesn’t lie. But for five of the top eight, there’s no film yet.
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