CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Philadelphia 76ers handled business on the road during a 97-89 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night. The Sixers took both games of their two-game road trip, and they have won five in a row overall.
The Sixers turn their attention to the San Antonio Spurs at home on Monday. The Spurs are struggling as they continue their rebuild, but they have an obvious foundation piece: No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama.
The 7-foot-4 big man is averaging 19.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 3.2 blocks while shooting 46.2% from the floor. Wembanyama will clash with Sixers big man Joel Embiid, the reigning league MVP, for the first time.
“I don’t think he thinks he’s a center,” Embiid said of Wembanyama. “I think he thinks he’s a basketball player, which is honestly that’s the way I think, too. I think I’m a basketball player. I don’t think stuck, you know, whatever point guard, forward, center. I don’t see myself as playing one position, but he has a potential to accomplish a lot of great things.”
Wembanyama is a unicorn. Considering his size and his athletic ability, there isn’t any logical reason he should be able to do what he does at such a high level — especially, as a rookie. Embiid knows it.
“Obviously, a man that size being able to move the way he does,” Embiid marveled. “Whether it’s his shooting ability, defensively, just his presence, I think it’s huge. I think, you know, like I said. he has a lot of potential and, you know, and he’s gotta keep on building.”
Wembanyama popped up on Embiid’s radar when he made it look easy against fellow countryman Rudy Gobert. Obviously, Gobert is one of the elite rim protectors in the league, but Wembanyama made the game look incredibly easy and Embiid was impressed.
“The first time I really saw him and paid attention to him was when he played one-on-one against, it wasn’t really one one-on-one, but he was playing against Rudy,” Embiid recalled. “So that was really saw him and you just look at his size and the way he was going with ease on Rudy was good. That’s when I started kind of following him.”
The Sixers and the Spurs will clash at 7 p.m. EST on Monday in Philadelphia.
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