Victor Wembanyama, along with Julian Champagnie, watched his performance on the court at the American Airlines Center. His verdict was clear: “That was niiiice”. Moments earlier, the French player had faked a move that lifted P.J. Washington, then executed a dribble and completed a spectacular reverse dunk that shook the rim, unleashing euphoria on the San Antonio Spurs bench. In a crushing 125-92 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, Wembanyama showcased the improvements made during a transformative summer that changed him physically and mentally.
“I was much more in control of myself,” Wembanyama commented. “As for the mind, I’m not worried because I saw what it’s like to face the possibility of losing a lot, whether it’s your career or your health. So I no longer take this for granted. The body? I have more fun now that it doesn’t cost me so much to move. I know I still need to improve, and I will continue to do so.”
Victor WembanyamaThe blocks, the dunks, the shots, the refined footwork and post moves, not to mention the intuition to know how to deploy them in the best way, proved that Wembanyama hadn’t played an NBA game in 8 months and 11 days before the victory against the Mavs. The residual rust was non-existent, as Wembanyama dominated, becoming the first player since the 1977-78 season to score 40 points with 15 rebounds and 3 blocks without turnovers, with 70% field goal efficiency. Wembanyama’s 40 points are the most for a player in an inaugural game in the history of the San Antonio franchise.Dallas started the game with its starting lineup, with Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II dominating the paint. Wembanyama outshined that group, scoring 4 of 5 shots for 11 points with a block in the first quarter. After faking a pass to Harrison Barnes, Wembanyama destabilized Cooper Flagg enough to gain a step on the rookie and perform a dunk. Shortly after, Wembanyama assisted Dylan Harper for his first career assist. The Frenchman faked Lively to make him jump and then returned the ball to the Spurs rookie at the top of the key. Harper immediately returned it to Wembanyama in a give-and-go for a two-handed dunk over Lively.“He’s been out for eight months,” said Spurs coach Mitch Johnson. “So we saw him seize the moment and play spectacularly. But honestly, the most impressive line [is] zero turnovers. The amount of fundamentally sound plays he made tonight was impressive.”
Mitch JohnsonThis is difficult now that Wembanyama’s teammates have found ways to give him high-efficiency shots. With 8:28 remaining before halftime, second-year guard Stephon Castle threw a transition alley-oop to Wembanyama, who snuck ahead of Dwight Powell, for a reverse dunk. It’s clear that last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year spent the preseason working with Wembanyama on their chemistry. Castle and Wembanyama scored or assisted on 42 of San Antonio’s 60 points in the first half, as the Spurs led by nine at halftime.“The guy is 7-3,” Davis said. “I think some of the officiating was a little questionable. But when he’s 7-3 and standing in front of you, nobody’s going to block a shot. He’s shooting over the top. At that point, you’re just praying he misses.”
Anthony DavisWembanyama perhaps had his most impressive play of the night during a 10-point burst in the third quarter, in which he made 3 of 4 shots with 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal. Wembanyama blocked a shot by Lively at the rim that Castle quickly connected to start a fast break. The guard immediately returned the ball to Wembanyama, who faked inside before hitting a three-pointer backwards while Lively committed a foul. Wembanyama completed the four-point play to increase San Antonio’s lead to 14 points.“It’s a lot of repetitions, a lot of watching videos together,” Castle said. “I feel like that helps and is often overlooked. Being able to watch videos with a guy you’re going to do a lot of pick-and-rolls with and have a lot of transition baskets with definitely helped. Being able to know where he likes the ball in a double team, where they’re going to come from. We’ve been working on that all summer, and it’s starting to take shape.”
Stephon CastleJohnson replaced Wembanyama shortly after he connected on a 13-foot fadeaway that put the Spurs up by 30 points. At that moment, Wembanyama admitted, he began to reflect on his summer of transformation and the long journey initiated in February by a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis.“It’s incredible. He’s a different player,” Flagg said. “You can’t know what he’s like until you’re on the court with him. It’s something I’ve never seen before. He was great tonight, but we have to do a better job of trying to take away some of his shots, and we can’t foul him as much as we did.”
Cooper Flagg“It feels like every day we try to put a brick to build a big mansion, and I felt the work was done for today,” Wembanyama said. “This is what we’ve been working for. This is what we’ve been fighting for so long, and I felt it fit. I felt I was in my place. We needed to make a statement in our locker room. The feeling was really that there was nothing more we could have done to help us today. We felt we did everything we needed to do. We feel ready and we feel that we would have no regrets for the things we should have worked on or the things we should have done in the summer. I felt comfortable with the work we did and with the preparation up to this moment. Now all the dice are cast in the Western Conference.”
Victor Wembanyama
