Victor Wembanyama is unlike any player in NBA history.
His incredulous physical dimensions—standing at 7' 5" with a 7' 10" wingspan—inspire the same sense of awe Manute Bol once did. An unshakeable wonder that a human of that size, speed and strength can exist at all, much less play professional basketball. But unlike his predecessors, Wembanyama pairs those physical traits with a shooting touch more often seen in players a foot shorter, as well as a silky-smooth jumper that forces defenders to guard him well outside the three-point line.
What’s more, the young Spurs star made his introduction to the NBA in its spacing era—when the geometry of the court has never mattered more. How much room to operate can a player create as a scoring threat? How much parquet can a defender cover before a crack emerges? Wemby (he even has a cool nickname!) fundamentally alters that math in unprecedented ways. His long legs and arms allow him to cover dozens of feet in a mere moment, a reality that lingers on the minds of opposing shooters. What makes for an easy catch-and-shoot against any other team becomes a pump-fake-and-pass with Wembanyama capable of swatting the shot into the stands if he’s merely in the same zip code.
Even as the league becomes bigger, faster, stronger and more skilled than ever before, Wembanyama is an anomaly. There have only been a few truly great defenders who can also operate as three-level scorers —and none of them came in a 7' 5" frame.
As he enters his third NBA season it seems like everything is coming together for the French superstar—landing at No. 5 in Sports Illustrated’s ranking of the top 100 NBA players right now. Wembanyama’s era of dominance is here, and it has been a long time coming.
Wembanyama Was Born for This
There are a lot of amazing athletes in the NBA. Among them are a select few who can confidently be labeled as born to play basketball. LeBron James has long held this crown with his near-superhuman abilities, and Wembanyama very much feels like his heir.
Wembanyama is four inches taller than Joel Embiid with a longer wingspan than fellow countryman Rudy Gobert. His hands are the size of hubcaps. The coordination and natural sense of space required to just move around as a person of that size without running into anything is impressive. To play basketball at an elite level? It’s outrageous. It would be impossible to believe if it wasn’t happening in front of our eyes.
It was certainly hard to have faith in his alien combination of length and agility when Wembanyama first came onto the scene as a young professional in France. Longtime basketball fans have seen all sorts of highlight reels from ridiculous physical talents at lower levels of the game. But for every future NBA star there are dozens of prospects who don’t pan out, whose mixtapes only look good because they happened to be further along physically than their peers. For every Wemby, there was a Seventh Woods. Some skepticism is not only warranted but necessary when highlight reels of freakish athletes arrive out of nowhere.
At first it was easy to dismiss Wembanyama as one of those flashes in the pan. Even as he played well at the pro level in his home country, even as he showed out in various youth championships and prospect showcases, there were doubts. How could there not be? A lot would need to break right in Wembanyama’s development for him to make the NBA, much less star in it.
But then proof started to emerge that Wemby was the exception to the rule. That he was as good as everybody believed, that he could be as great as everybody thought. Proof positive? How natural he looked playing against Rudy Gobert at the peak of the defensive stalwart’s powers.
Two minutes of 16-year-old phenom Victor Wembanyama and two-time NBA DPOY Rudy Gobert going at it during 2-on-2 in France. Wembanyama's skill level, agility and incredible length are on full display. Arguably the best prospect in the world regardless of age. pic.twitter.com/4ES1jNyMB6
— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) October 18, 2020
Then there was the tennis ball video in which Wembanyama demonstrated his stunning hand-eye coordination. Or the pre-draft video in which he showed that he could “palm” a full-sized NBA basketball with three fingers to spare. By the time Wembanyama was ready to take the stage as the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, his arrival was celebrated as basketball’s next opportunity to welcome a player with the potential to become an all-time great.
From 2023: Inside Victor Wembanyama’s Plan to Dominate the NBA Like Never Before
Rookie Season for the Ages
Wembanyama managed to live up to the hype that had reached a fever pitch before his rookie season tipped off. His flaws were visible but fixable. He had a great-looking jumpshot and was surprisingly adept at sinking threes for someone his size, yet fell in love with the shot a bit too deeply. He wasn’t always capable of handling NBA-caliber physicality and got bullied a few times by beefier centers. The Spurs didn’t often let him log more than 30 minutes a night as he improved his conditioning. In many ways Wembanyama played the part of a 20-year-old treading water in the best basketball league in the world.
But the flashes of greatness were there. He won Rookie of the Year averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and a league-leading 3.6 blocks per game. He forced the flow of play to go through him whenever he was on the court. More than anything, Wembanyama’s presence was felt at all times. Which isn’t a given. Even the most talented rookies can get lost in the speed and physicality of the NBA. Not Wembanyama. Even the most experienced NBA veterans were impacted by his looming figure in the paint. Simple plays like fast breaks were snuffed out completely because Wemby was in the way.
Crucially, the Spurs star also played in 71 games. Durability was a big question as he began his career. Injuries plagued similar players before, such that it was fair to wonder if he could handle the aggressive nature of playing center in the NBA well enough to avoid missing chunks of games as bumps and bruises accumulate. But he didn’t have a problem with that as a rookie, which made what happened in his sophomore season all the crueler.
From 2024: As a Rookie, Victor Wembanyama Took Over the NBA. His Journey Is Just Beginning.
Blood Clot Issue Ends Wemby’s Breakout Second Season
Wembanyama came back stronger and his game more refined in his second season. He improved his shooting percentages and continued to terrorize opponents defensively. Averaging 24/11 with nearly four blocks per game through the All-Star break, Wemby was on track to win Defensive Player of the Year and earn his first round of All-NBA and All-Defense honors. Perhaps even a few MVP votes to boot. But he was shockingly and suddenly ruled out of the second half of the season due to deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder, a scary blood clot issue that fellow star Damian Lillard also suffered from that season. He was sidelined for the last 29 games of the year and wasn’t able to return to basketball activities until the offseason.
The injury delayed Wembanyama’s ascent to officially being recognized as one of the best players in the NBA. But it did not derail it.
Why This Season is Shaping Up to Be a Big One
From all accounts, Wembanyama has fully recovered from the blood clot problem. It sets up what should be a stellar third season for the superstar center.
His supporting cast is the best he’s enjoyed yet. De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper and reigning ROY Stephon Castle make for a well-rounded and explosive backcourt for Wembanyama to run pick-and-rolls with. San Antonio has acquired a few wings to ensure the point-of-attack defense is tight, one of the few areas of the game Wembanyama can’t directly impact. And even a marginal improvement of his own personal numbers from last season would vault Wembanyama into superstar production territory; if he just stays on his current trajectory, he could become the first player in NBA history to average 3.5 blocks and 3.5 three-pointers made per game. And that’s before even mentioning the bulk and strength he appears to have put on during his offseason.
The Spurs may not be quite ready to contend for titles yet, but Wembanyama is ready to ascend to the elite tier of the NBA. It’s exciting because a player like this has never ruled over the league before; a player of this skillset has never existed in the league. It’s also terrifying because it doesn't feel like Wembanyama has even scraped the ceiling of his potential yet.
Wembanyama’s time is now. When all is said and done this season his No. 5 ranking might feel laughably low. Buckle up.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Victor Wembanyama Takeover Is Here and the NBA Should Be Terrified.
