There isn’t a denying Victor Wembanyama has exceeded expectations as an NBA phenom. However how good has he been? Is he already a top-10 participant within the league in solely his second season?
Because the Spurs star will get able to play in his one hundredth NBA sport on Friday — and switch 21 on Saturday! — our employees places his early profession into perspective and explores his final ceiling.
1. Rating from 0 to 100: What grade would you give Wembanyama on the 100-game mark?
Vincent Goodwill: 100. What hasn’t he achieved? What can’t he do? Leap tall buildings in a single certain? Block photographs, begin a quick break and end it earlier than you may inhale/exhale? He’s achieved all of that and hasn’t needed to commandeer the Spurs’ offense. Final yr, no person knew the right way to give him the ball, or didn’t wish to, and he nonetheless dominated. This yr, extra of the identical. Okay, back-to-the-basket sport, mid-post sport, he’s engaged on it. However he’s not even a season and a half in.
Tom Haberstroh: 99. Just like the greats, he’s exceeded nice expectations. At 7-foot-5 — don’t give me that 7-foot-3 nonsense — Wemby warps the sport in methods we’ve by no means seen at his age. If he’s this good earlier than his twenty first birthday, I shudder to assume what he’ll be forward of his thirty first birthday. A playoff go to with this roster will bump this as much as a 100.
Morten Stig Jensen: 95. My interpretation of 100 is Wilt/Kareem/MJ territory, so Wemby falls simply brief, in some half on account of the truth that his first 30 or so video games had been considerably beneath par for the way he’s performed since — and sure, that was certainly San Antonio’s fault, nevertheless it nonetheless occurred. He is received loads of areas to additional enhance upon, resembling reducing turnovers, optimizing his playmaking, and getting his shot-selection extra beneath management, which makes him all that extra ridiculous of a participant. 95 for a man who’s going to see exponential enhancements over the following 5 seasons is like beginning a online game with all cheats toggled on.
Ben Rohrbach: 100. I’m unsure we may have moderately anticipated something aside from what Wembanyama has achieved, which is set up himself as a bona fide candidate for All-NBA and Defensive Participant of the Yr in his sophomore season. Averaging a 26-10-4, plus a handful of blocks and steals per sport, on 48/36/88 capturing splits for a group that’s vying for a playoff spot within the Western Convention, all on the age of 21, is simply insane.
2. What has been Wembanyama’s most spectacular feat to this point?
Jensen: Bear in mind in February final season when he was one help in need of the uncommon 5×5 line? Media shops worldwide nonetheless wrote about how the just-turned 20-year-old almost received it, praised him for the valiant effort, after which the dude went out and ACTUALLY DID IT simply 24 hours later. That is the stuff of legends proper there. I am simply ready for the inevitable Participant of the Week award, which he is earned 3 times straight.
Haberstroh: If Huge Vic had been a group, he’d rank 14th in blocks amongst all groups within the final 10 video games. Higher than the typical group. By himself. And it’s not simply the blocks. If it holds, he’d turn out to be the primary participant to common a minimum of three blocks and three 3-pointers for the season — a truth we identified on The Huge Quantity final month. Since that present taping, he’s in some way raised the bar, averaging a preposterous, dare I say alien-like 5.3 blocks and 4.4 3-pointers. Y’all, he turns 21 on Saturday.
Rohrbach: It’s not simply that Wembanyama is the main candidate for DPOY. He’s the most effective defensive participant within the league by a large margin. The numbers again it up. His size adjustments the form of the ground. We will moderately assume he’ll submit the best defensive season ever in some unspecified time in the future within the close to future, after which maintain topping it for the rest of the last decade.
Goodwill: We’re in a league the place Anthony Davis exists, and Rudy Gobert retains everlasting residence of the DPOY award, and Bam Adebayo is likely to be probably the most versatile defender on Earth and but all of us acknowledge he’s the man. The blocks, the steals, the unattempted photographs as a result of he’s lurking. Poor Evan Mobley and Chet Holmgren, they’d have the market cornered for skinny bigs if this alien didn’t come alongside.
3. True or False: Victor Wembanyama is already a top-10 participant within the NBA.
Rohrbach: True. In a world the place Rudy Gobert has made 4 All-NBA rosters, we lastly have a solution to the query: What if that dude had been additionally superior at offense? He wouldn’t simply be one of many 15 most impactful gamers within the league. He can be top-10, no query about it.
Goodwill: True. We’re now not in a world the place we are able to assume Steph, KD and LeBron are mechanically put in within the prime 10. Maybe they dwell on the again finish, however the transition is right here, a minimum of when it comes to effectivity and consistency. Huge Slim is likely to be a top-5 participant, knocking on the Jokić/SGA/Luka door as a result of he impacts the sport in so many profound methods. Simply go have a look at that Christmas sport at MSG. I don’t care the Spurs misplaced, he was the most effective participant on the ground.
Haberstroh: True. Actual speak, he’s already a top-5 participant. By some superior metrics, like Estimated Plus-Minus, he’s been a top-3 participant this season. If Wemby loved the luxurious of the supporting casts of OKC, Boston, Milwaukee or Denver, he’d be a legit MVP candidate. Alas, the second-most factors on the Spurs roster belongs to Julian Champagnie.
Jensen: True. He is bridged the hole between his offense and protection to a degree the place it is unattainable to argue towards him for a top-10 spot. In the event you’re among the finest, if not the most effective, defender within the NBA, and also you’re popping 25 environment friendly factors per sport, you are mechanically within the dialog. Add 10 rebounds and damn-near 4 assists per sport, whereas lifting your in any other case pedestrian group to a plus-.500 document within the Western Convention, and it turns into indeniable.
4. What do you anticipate to see from Wembanyama over his subsequent 100 video games?
Haberstroh: He’ll play at an MVP stage. Whether or not the Spurs entrance workplace helps him with sufficient successful gamers is one other story. Individually, I anticipate a half-dozen 5×5 video games, thousands and thousands of recent followers and hopefully a decrease turnover fee. I hesitate to place a lid on the man, however at this fee, he’ll snatch the torch from LeBron and Steph because the face of the league earlier than these subsequent 100 video games are by.
Rohrbach: The playoffs. As the present tenth seed within the Western Convention, Wembanyama’s Spurs have some work to do to ensure themselves a playoff spot, however he’s that work. If the Wembanyama we noticed within the Olympics — or the Wembanyama we have now seen in latest weeks — is what we are going to get within the play-in event, the Spurs shall be a nightmare in any one-game state of affairs, and I like my possibilities with the 7-foot-5 dude who can do all the pieces.
Jensen: The primary 100 video games represented The Introduction. The following 100 video games will signify The Worry. Not for him, however for everybody else. The Spurs are loaded with draft picks, have tradeable contracts, and will make each semi-older contender really feel a deep breath behind their neck. Clearly, Wembanyama would be the essential cog of that Spurs group, and the franchise will go so far as he does. On condition that Wembanyama’s potential is principally limitless, groups higher win now whereas they nonetheless can.
Goodwill: Who is aware of how the numbers will look, however the group ought to look markedly higher within the subsequent yr and a half. Once more, the transition has occurred on the prime — Oklahoma Metropolis, Houston, Memphis — whereas the groups with the graybeards are scrambling for scraps. Wembanyama’s development shall be measured by the Spurs understanding precisely what to place round him, so he doesn’t should work so onerous to get his numbers. It’s extra on the group than the participant, these subsequent 100.
5. What’s Wembanyama’s final ceiling within the NBA?
Goodwill: He can do something, be something — he can measure as much as the place Hakeem and Duncan sit on these ridiculous however typically enjoyable GOAT lists. He’ll personal the defensive participant of the yr awards with cheap well being. One would assume a pair MVPs are in play. Who is aware of how lengthy he’ll dominate however he’ll dominate on this league filled with parity. He’ll have his final moments however with the way in which the league is ready up, it’s not designed to final very lengthy.
Haberstroh: The GOAT. I’m not predicting he’ll cross Mike and LeBron and get there. I simply don’t understand how you have a look at his age, his size, his sturdiness, his motor, his skill-set and never see his potential as being greater than anybody who has ever picked up a basketball. If he performs 86 p.c of his groups’ video games like he has up thus far, he has a very good likelihood of sitting atop the mountain.
Jensen: The Kareem comparability is one I’ve favored for some time, even when their enjoying kinds differ considerably. The general imprint on a sport is comparable, solely with Wembanyama with the ability to stretch the ground, and thus incorporate himself into the brand new age NBA. That is the person perspective, nonetheless. The greats are all the time evaluated on successful, and we’re seeing a participant right here who may win a number of championships, a number of MVPs, and lock down Defensive Participant of the Yr for a decade. We won’t shrink back from it: His final ceiling is GOAT territory.
Rohrbach: MVP. Champion. A number of instances at each. All-timer. GOAT? He has no ceiling.
