The Wembanyama show with the Spurs begins for real now،
The preseason train for San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama hit full swing Friday night in San Francisco.
Playing in the Spurs’ preseason finale against the Golden State Warriors, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft showed everything he had to offer in one incredible stretch.
First, Wembanyama put the ball behind the 3-point line with 6:33 left in the first quarter. He took two dribbles with his left, crossed it to his right hand, put Andrew Wiggins in the air and nailed a 19-foot jump shot.
On the next offensive possession, Wembanyama was guarded by Klay Thompson. Wembanyama collected the ball on the right side and dribbled to his right. Thompson forced him back to the baseline. Wembanyama jumped up, caused contact and threw the ball at an awkward angle, but knocked it down, then made the free throw to complete the three-point play.
Thompson tried to get revenge on the ensuing possession, catching the ball just outside the 3-point line at the top of the key. Wembanyama was hiding just outside the paint, near the restricted circle, more than 20 feet away. After a pump fake to lose Keldon Johnson, Thompson went for the shot, but that pump fake had given Wembanyama all the time he needed to close the distance. Wembanyama blocked the shot and the ball landed in the hands of Spurs center Zach Collins, who hit a Wembanyama with a perfect outlet pass. Wembanyama waited for Thompson to pass before diving with both hands.
Two possessions later, Wembanyama found himself facing Wiggins on the wing. Wiggins, after seeing a 3-point attempt blocked by the 7-foot-3½ Wembanyama earlier in the quarter, tried to take the ball inside. Wiggins drove from the left corner into the paint, Wembanyama staying with him every step of the way. The 6-foot-8 Wiggins faded to the side while attempting a jumper that was easily knocked away. Jeremy Sochan got the ball and hit Wembanyama in transition as he scored a 3-point basket at the top of the key.
Eight points, two blocks and countless head shakes in the span of 88 seconds.
“It’s very exciting,” Sochan said after the match. “It just shows who he is, he’s a really good player.”
Aside from the preseason, everything changes Wednesday night, when Wembanyama and the Spurs host the Dallas Mavericks (9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN) for the first regular season game of what should be a career full of even more jaw-dropping highlights. However, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich isn’t worried about the attention being paid to his star rookie.
“He’s been through it,” Popovich said Monday. “There’s been a lot of hype around him for a very long time, and he doesn’t let that affect him. He’s very mature. He’s very emotionally strong. His priorities are in order. He’s already very professional. He’ll just come play [on Wednesday]”.
Wembanyama’s first NBA experience did not go well. He shot 2 of 13 from the field in his summer league debut against the Charlotte Hornets, leaving some observers wondering how long it would take for him to realize his prodigious potential on the NBA stage.
If the preseason is any indication, the answer is: not very long.
In the four preseason games he played, Wembanyama averaged 19.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks with shooting times of .509/.318/.870 in just 20.9 minutes per game. He ranked seventh in the NBA in scoring and first in blocks. The Spurs, who were 22-60 a season ago, won three of the four games he played.
The speed with which Wembanyama adapted to the game surprised many, but not his teammates.
“I kind of knew what he was like during training camp, playing against him in open gyms and stuff like that,” Spurs guard Malaki Branham, who competed alongside Wembanyama in Summer League. “Now everyone sees it. He’s only going to get better. The game is going to slow down even more for him once you start playing.
It didn’t take Branham long to know that Wembanyama was going to be a different type of player.
“OKC, the first preseason game,” Branham said. “He was just more comfortable playing against different coverages. When he was doing that spin move and that layup, it was different. There’s not a lot of guys his size that can do that. “
This play – when Wembanyama faked a defender at the 3-point line, took two dribbles to his right, came back into the lane, jumped and finished with a sneaky left-handed layup around the Thunder big man d ‘Oklahoma City, Chet Holmgren – stood out for many.
When asked what moments stood out from preseason or open gyms, Sochan said there were too many.
“I couldn’t tell you just one,” Sochan said.
Wembanyama, however, chose one.
“I think about my dunk against Miami,” Wembanyama said after thinking for a few seconds. “I surprised myself a little, because I was almost too small.”
The dunk in question made the rounds on social media, not only for the finish that seemed straight out of the movie “Space Jam”, but also for the reaction of Miami Heat center Thomas Bryant.
Thomas Bryant’s reaction when Victor Wembanyama lunged at him😂 pic.twitter.com/oZWv4ITF3f
– Tatum🍀 (@CookHimTatum) October 14, 2023
Wembanyama’s impact showed up in more than just highlights, even considering it only occurred in the preseason against opponents who had varied lineups with no projected starters.
Against Oklahoma City in the first quarter, the Spurs scored 43 points in the first quarter. Against the Warriors in the finals, they scored 44 points in the first. The most the Spurs scored in a first quarter last season – preseason or regular season – was 42.
The Spurs’ defensive rating when Wembanyama has been on the court for 83 preseason minutes is 102.1 — far better than the league-worst 119.6 points per 100 possessions the team allowed last season . San Antonio’s offensive rating during Wembanyama’s minutes was 123.4. Among the 119 players who played at least four games and at least 20 minutes per game in the preseason, Wembanyama’s plus-21.3 net rating ranks eighth.
Still, Caesars Sportsbook has the Spurs at +600 to make the playoffs, third-worst among Western Conference teams.
“We are a really, really young team,” Sochan said Monday. “This is all just beginning, and it’s a process. There will be ups and downs in every type of process you have.
“I think that’s the most important thing, being a team that knows it’s a process and staying united in the process.”
Wembanyama’s preseason performance only raised expectations for the favorite (-150 at Caesars) to win Rookie of the Year honors. It was a year ago when Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero had 27 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks in his first regular-season NBA game, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only No. 1 picks in the rankings. common draft era (since 1966) to have a 25-5-5 game in their debut.
Wembanyama is the ninth forward or center drafted with the No. 1 pick in the last 15 years. The previous eight averaged 16.3 points and 8.4 rebounds on 57% shooting in their debut. That includes a 0-point miss from 2013 No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett. Going back further, you can find equally dismal debuts from 2007 No. 1 pick Greg Oden (0 points, five rebounds, 0 of 5 shooting) and 2002 No. 1 pick Yao Ming, who topped the 0-point score, two-rebound debut for the Houston Rockets to reach the Basketball Hall of Fame.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, no No. 1 pick has scored at least 30 points in his debut since guard Allen Iverson in 1996.
Although Wednesday’s game will be the first of many regular season games to come, Wembanyama knows what type of career he would like to have.
“I want to win as many titles as possible in the long term,” Wembanyama said on Tuesday. “I know it’s not something easy to do. Many, many and most players have their careers and don’t even make it to the final or win the championship.
“But I know it’s one of my biggest goals in life, so I know I’m going to achieve it someday. And I’m dedicating the next, I don’t know how many years in my life, to I achieve it and I am ready to sacrifice everything.
