San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama capped a historic NBA season debut by being unanimously named the league's Rookie of the Year on Monday.

Wembanyama received all 99 first-place votes from selected media members to become the first player to unanimously win the award since Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns in 2015-16.

The heralded 20-year-old joins Spurs legends David Robertson (1989-90) and Tim Duncan (1997-98) as the franchise's Rookie of the Year recipients. Wembanyama is also the first player from France to earn the honour in the award's history.

Oklahoma City center Chet Holmgren was a near-unanimous choice for runner-up, as he was named second on 98 of the 99 ballots. Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller finished third in voting, followed by Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski and Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II.

Touted as perhaps the NBA's best prospect since LeBron James in 2003, Wembanyama lived up to his substantial hype by becoming the first player in league history with at least 1,500 points, 700 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 blocks and 100 3-pointers made in a season. The 7-foot-4 phenom led the league in blocks (254) and blocks per game (3.6) to become just the second rookie to place first in those categories, along with Manute Bol in 1985-86.

Wembanyama is also the fourth player in NBA history with 1,500 points, 250 assists and 250 blocks in a season, joining a trio of Hall of Famers in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon and Robinson. Olajuwon and Robinson were the most recent players to accomplish the feat when they both did so in 1993-94.

In 71 overall contests, Wembanyama finished with per-game averages of 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals.

Wembanyama will have an opportunity to collect some more hardware, as he is one of three finalists for the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award to be announced Tuesday. Minnesota's Rudy Gobert and Miami's Bam Adebayo are the others. 

The New York Knicks' play-off run won't include All-Star forward Julius Randle.

The Knicks announced on Thursday that Randle will have surgery on his right shoulder and won't return this season.

Rande injured the shoulder in a win over the Miami Heat on January 27, and the initial prognosis was he would be side-lined for several weeks.

After two months of rehabilitation without significant progress, however, the decision has been made for him to undergo surgery.

He is expected to make a full recovery and be ready to play around the start of the 2024-25 NBA season.

Randle was instrumental to New York's success over the season's first three months, averaging 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game to earn a third All-Star selection.

The 29-year-old had started the Knicks' first 46 games before dislocating his shoulder against the Heat. He exited with 4:27 to play after appearing to land hard on his right shoulder after colliding with the Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Although Randle's injury puts a serious dent in New York's hopes of winning its first NBA title since the 1972-73 season, the Knicks haven't lost much ground in the Eastern Conference standings since his injury.

At the time Randle got hurt, New York was 29-17 (.630) and in fourth place in the East.

Despite going just 15-14 (.517) since the injury, the Knicks have only dropped one spot in the conference, trailing the fourth-place Orlando Magic by just one-half game and the third-place Cleveland Cavaliers by one game. They are two games ahead of the Heat and Indiana Pacers.

The Knicks, however, have been stumbling lately, heading into Thursday's game against the visiting Sacramento Kings riding a three-game losing streak.