Victor Wembanyama entered the NBA with plenty of hype for his rookie season with the San Antonio Spurs, and the No. 1 pick has lived up to that throughout the year.
Jamal Crawford even believes he has exceeded the hype.
The former 20-year veteran recalled on the “Draymond Green Show” that he was thoroughly impressed him after he called his game against the Hawks on TNT on Jan. 15. He told the Warriors star that he could tell Wembanyama wanted to be great after that meeting.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich benched him and three other starters to begin the second half of that game. Wembanyama responded to a scoreless first half with 26 points and nine rebounds over the final two quarters in the loss, which stood out to Crawford.
He is better than the hype, not because of the (expletive) you can see, it is the (expletive) you can’t see. This is what really got me: After the game, I’m walking out and he is in the weight room. He sees me and drops the weights. He comes down, shakes my hand and doesn’t even say nothing. He just puts his head down; he wants some wisdom or knowledge. I saw he is going to be great. … He is actually better than the hype. It is scary.
Wembanyama is averaging 20.5 points, 10 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 3.2 blocks and 1.1 steals on 46.8% shooting from the field in 49 games. He leads the rookie class in points, rebounds and blocks and is the only first-year player with four 30-point games.
The 7-footer is the front-runner to win Rookie of the Year, topping Chet Holmgren and Brandon Miller. He leads the league in blocks and is 10th in defensive box plus-minus (plus-2.3) and 15th in defensive win shares (2.6).
"He's actually better than the hype… it's scary"
—@JCrossover tells @Money23Green why the little things about @wemby has him destined for greatness pic.twitter.com/XdnKtfoWPn
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) February 20, 2024
Wembanyama is emerging as a force on both ends of the floor for the Spurs and has only scratched the surface of his potential. He has proven himself as a generational talent in a small sample size and should only become more dominant with time.
Count Crawford as a fan of Wembanyama at this stage of his career.
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