It’s wild to be writing that this soon, but Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spurs unicorn, 7-foot-5 forward-center, is playing out of his mind. He has leveraged his bulked up strength and has embraced efficiency. He’s a stretch forward — the stretch forward, actually — with the handles and shooting range of a guard. He is becoming historic and singular.
In USA TODAY Sports’ preseason ranking of Top 25 NBA players, our panelists slotted Wembanyama seventh. I fear we made a mistake; he might be the best player in the league right now.
More importantly, and for the first time in franchise history, the Spurs have started a season 5-0. They could blossom into potential under-the-radar contenders, even in the loaded Western Conference. And while the Spurs have last season’s Rookie of the Year in Stephon Castle and a burgeoning star in No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper, Wembanyama is the catalyst for San Antonio’s rise.
“It’s not random,” Wembanyama said Thursday, Oct. 30 after a 107-101 victory over the Heat. “We didn’t get those five wins randomly. We worked for it. We started this season strong, and we need to keep that streak going for as long as possible.”
Wembanyama is averaging 30.2 points per game (ninth in the NBA) and 14.6 rebounds (first). He’s shooting 56.3% – which represents nearly a 9% jump from last season – and has embraced efficiency; he has become more selective with his 3 pointers, relying instead on high-percentage shots.
Yet, the weapon that has most elevated his game is his ability to draw contact and get to the line.
Wembanyama is averaging 9.6 free throw attempts per game this season, more than double from last year (4.1). Not surprisingly, he’s averaging 4.2 more points per game on free throws alone.
Wembanyama ranks third in player impact estimate (28.0), an advanced metric that calculates positive and negative contributions to a game. Essentially, the number represents the percentage of positive things the player was accountable for.
So, basically, Wembanyama has been responsible for more than a quarter of San Antonio’s positive plays.
“He can dunk without jumping,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said recently. “He is different.”
Only Luka Dončić (30.2) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (28.3) are ranked higher, and there’s a fairly significant drop-off from Wemby to the fourth player, three-time MVP Nikola Jokić (22.5).
The part that should have Spurs executives elated is that Wembanyama is only starting to unlock his potential.
He’s 21 years old and is only now starting to figure out how to use his increased lower-body strength to his advantage. And the gravity Wembanyama wields on defense is unparalleled.
He leads the NBA in blocked shots, with 24. That’s more than 15 NBA teams, or half of the league.
The Golden State Warriors as a team also have 24 blocked shots; they have played six games this season, one more than San Antonio.
It’s not just that he blocks shots, it’s more that he swats or spikes or plucks them out of the air, almost in annoyance that someone would dare challenge him. And, if you watch closely, you can see how offensive players fear his rim protection as they abort and divert their drives away from the basket.
All of it can utterly deflate opposing players.
But there has also been another shift in Wembanyama’s approach this season. His confidence has become ruthless, almost irrational, and it’s a trait that some of the game’s greatest eventually embodied on their paths to greatness.
In Thursday night’s victory against the Heat, Bam Adebayo caught a pass in the corner and blew past Wembanyama before thundering home a dunk on him.
After the game, untroubled, Wembanyama shrugged it off.
“Getting dunked on is part of the game,” he told reporters. “Until I’m getting dunked on more than I block shots, I’m going to keep going.
“But none of us are going to live to that day.”
What we will live through, in what’s becoming inevitable and obvious, is that Victor Wembanyama is marching toward dominance, possibly for decade(s) to come.
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