Category: Wemby

Victor Wembanyama has dazzled throughout his rookie campaign with the San Antonio Spurs, and the top pick has earned high praise from the top players in the NBA.

Damian Lillard was the latest to chime in.

Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks faced Wembanyama twice this season, winning both. Though Wembanyama missed the first meeting, Lillard had the opportunity to see the 7-footer up close in the second game on Jan. 4 and walked away impressed.

The eight-time All-Star spoke Friday on the “Dan Patrick Show” about Wembanyama and gave a detailed scouting report on what he has seen from the 20-year-old this season.

I think he is special. The first thing you think is height. I could see that he was clearly a good basketball player, but there was just so much hype around him that you were like, ‘Man, he is so tall and long. The game is so fast, how is he going to do in the NBA?’ Then you see he has a little twitch with him. Even though he is tall and lanky, he moves quick. He is fluid and is doing things you just haven’t seen somebody at that size do before.

I think we’ve always been extremely impressed with Kevin Durant doing it at 6-foot-11, now you have a dude who is 7-foot-5 doing the same thing. It is just getting crazy. I think Wemby is special. I think how competitive he is is what surprised me the most and that’s what makes me think that very soon I can see him being the best player in the league.

Wembanyama is averaging 20.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.4 blocks and 1.3 steals on 46.7% shooting from the field in 58 games. He leads the league in blocks and is also first in points, rebounds and steals among the rookie class.

The Frenchman is the front-runner to win Rookie of the Year after achieving numerous accomplishments, including becoming the youngest player in history to register a 5×5 game and recording a triple-double with blocks. He has also won Rookie of the Month twice.

Wembanyama surpassed expectations this season and has turned in an impressive rookie campaign. With 16 games left to play, Wembanyama has established himself as the franchise cornerstone and looks to be in store for a long career.

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San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama will not play Saturday on the road against the Golden State Warriors due to a sprained right ankle, the team announced.

Wembanyama returned to San Antonio on Tuesday to seek further medical evaluation on the ankle and isn’t with the team. He is expected to be available to play on Monday when the Spurs host the Warriors to begin an eight-game homestand, which includes two games in Austin.

The top pick has missed seven games this season, including six due to issues with that ankle. The team previously put him on a minute restriction that prevented him from playing in back-to-back games. He had played 21 straight games before sitting on Thursday.

Spurs will officially rule out Victor Wembanyama tomorrow vs Warriors. He is remaining in San Antonio to nurse a right ankle sprain.

He is expected to be a full go for Monday's rematch with Golden State in SA.

— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) March 9, 2024

Wembanyama is the front-runner to win Rookie of the Year after averaging 20.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 3.4 blocks and 1.3 steals in 56 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 has put up some rare stat lines, from recording a triple-double with blocks to recording the second-fastest triple-double in history. He recently became the youngest player to record a 5×5 game, with at least five points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.

The organization has been cautious with Wembanyama regarding his workload and injuries and will continue to do so over the remainder of the season.

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Victor Wembanyama will not play on Thursday as the San Antonio Spurs continue a three-game road trip in Sacramento due to a sprained right ankle, the team announced.

Wembanyama returned to San Antonio after facing Houston on Tuesday, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. The organization took advantage of the proximity of Houston to San Antonio and opted to send him home to be further examined by team doctors.

The No. 1 pick has missed six games this season, including five due to issues with that ankle. The team previously put him on a minute restriction that prevented him from playing in back-to-back games. He has played 21 straight games since last sitting on Jan. 19.

Part of the reason Vic returned to SA was proximity to Houston.

Had he injured the ankle in Sacramento, he would have remained with the team for the remainder of the trip.

— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) March 7, 2024

Wembanyama is the front-runner to win Rookie of the Year after averaging 20.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 3.4 blocks and 1.3 steals in 56 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 has put up some rare stat lines, from recording a triple-double with blocks to recording the second-fastest triple-double in history. He recently became the youngest player to record a 5×5 game, with at least five points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.

The organization has been cautious with Wembanyama this year regarding his workload and injuries and will continue to do so over the last 20 games of the season. The team plays next on Saturday against Golden State, so it is possible Wembanyama could sit in that contest.

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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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San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama has emerged as one of the top shot blockers in the NBA, and coach Gregg Popovich believes the 7-footer is improving each game.

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 top pick leads the league in blocks and is 10th in defensive box plus-minus (plus-2.3) and 15th in defensive win shares (2.6). The Spurs, as a team, are fifth in blocks per game (6.1), with Wembanyama leading the way each night.

Popovich explained how Wembanyama has improved in that area.

He is learning about who he is guarding because he has no idea who these guys are. You can watch them on film, but it doesn’t mean anything until you get out on the court with them, so that has been an education for him. He is learning how to use his length more where he doesn’t have to get up into people. Obviously, he has taken a great liking to being a great shot-blocker. He has gotten better and better at that as far as understanding the schemes defensively that we want to employ and knowing that he is the leader in that regard.

Wembanyama registered his second triple-double this week, recording 27 points, 14 rebounds, 10 blocks and five assists in a win over the Toronto Raptors. He became the fourth rookie to record a triple-double with blocks.

He is still putting up big numbers despite logging fewer than 30 minutes on average. The team has limited his playing time since he rolled his ankle in December, and he only started playing in back-to-back games at the end of January.

Popovich believes his minutes should increase.

It is amazing the numbers he is getting in for that few minutes but we’ve decided that’s the best way to bring him along right now. I think toward the end of the season, we’ll probably raise it a little bit. I think we had three or four weekends in a row with three (games) in four nights or something like that, so it was fun to see how he’d react. Once or twice, he reacted like a rookie. He hit the wall, for sure. They all do. There was a point there where he had played in more games this year than all of last year in half of the time.

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.

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