Jude Magnotti ‘26
EE Sports Columnist
Seven feet, four inches; eight foot wingspan; and 210 pounds of pure stick and bones. That ladies and gentlemen is the physical frame of Victor Wembayama, the 7 ‘4″ Frenchman who looks more like an alien from star trek than a basketball player in the NBA.
Now, unless you have been living under a rock the past year and a half, it has been impossible to not hear Wembayamas name associated with everything even relatively close to basketball. As a seven footer with an elite skillset and the playstyle of a guard, Wemby has been touted by almost universally everyone as the next face of the NBA.
Analysts like Adrian Wojnarowski have thrown around names such as “The greatest prospect in the history of sports”, “The Chosen One”, and of course, “The Next LeBron James”.
Now, with as much pressure that Wemby has on his shoulders to live up to these nicknames, fans were still tempering their expectations going into Victor’s 2023-2024 rookie season. After all, not only is he coming into an all-around elite rookie class with guys like Chet Holmgren and Brandon Miller, he is most certainly at the risk of injury with his tall and skinny lightweight frame.
Now, over halfway into the season, the nicknames that Wemby was given such as “The Next LeBron James’ ‘ have been completely thrown out the window because Wemby’s rookie season has not been on par with that of LeBron James…It has been even BETTER.
With 52 games under his belt, Wemby has averaged an astonishing 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 points a game. However, Wemby’s biggest surprise of the season has not been his production on the offensive end, but his complete and utter dominance on the defensive end.
Not only is Wemby leading the league in blocks with 3.3, he is making a strong case for DPOY against former three-time winner Rudy Gobert.
People knew that Wemby would be a force on defense, but absolutely NO ONE expected Wemby to command such a presence at such an early age. Scouts were concerned that his light frame would allow smaller players to drive in and outmuscle him in the paint. However, not only has Wemby defeated almost every foe that dare challenge his reign in the paint, his presence alone is enough to deter players from heading there.
Stopping a two-on-one fast break on defense is one of the toughest things you can do in basketball. Wemby pulls it off with ease on a nightly basis. Players that once would have gotten easy layups have now had their shots swatted into oblivion by the monstrosity of a human being that is Wemby.
And the craziest part? He could still be doing so much better if it weren’t for one thing: His incompetent teammates. Being drafted first overall may be an impressive feat, but it certainly does come with some drawbacks. For one, not only did he land on a dumpster fire of a basketball team that is the San Antonio Spurs, his teammates will not pass to him to save their lives.
On the fast break, the Spurs players always seem to forget that they have a seven four monster who can dunk the ball while barely even getting off the floor. Instead, players such as Jeremy Sochan ignore Wemby and run around in the paint for 5 minutes before tossing up a highly contested brick.
The year before the Spurs drafted Wemby, they finished with their worst record since 1996-1997. Now, with Wemby, they are somehow even worse! Sitting at the bottom of the western conference with a record of 11-47 only ahead of the single digit win Pistons and Wizards in the Eastern conference.
To add insult to injury, Wemby has stayed remarkably healthy this year, missing only six games and is forced to play out the rest of the season a team that had no chance whatsoever of going to the playoffs since their first game.
Now, while Wemby’s individual season has been a silver lining for this team, we can’t help possibly wondering if this should be a concerning sign for this team’s future. Could Wemby end up in the same position as someone like Luka? Putting up crazy individual stalines while their team fails to even sniff the top 10 seeds.
It has happened before, and if the Spurs are not careful, it could happen to Wemby too. Nevertheless, at the end of the day this season will still go down as a victory for Wemby. He is running away with the rookie of the year award, validated the hype around him before the season started, and has established himself as a future face of the NBA for years to come.
Will Wemby one day break through and live up to his full potential as an all time great? Or will injuries and poor team play hold him back from becoming who every person on planet earth believed he could be. Either way for Wemby, it is only up from here.
Photo courtesy: Sports Illustrated