Victor Wembanyama is the league’s top shot-blocker, and it’s not close between him and the next guys, Jay Huff (1.9) and Chet Holmgren (1.9). Wembanyama possesses physical gifts that the gods of Olympus would envy, and he is far from his final form. Yet he has a new standard to chase: Wilt Chamberlain in his final season.
The NBA didn’t start counting blocks and steals until 1973-74, the first season Chamberlain had retired, but now, Basketball Reference has added his block numbers for his last year.
At age 36, Goliath played in all 82 games, averaging 5.4 rejections. With these numbers added, it now claims the second-highest average in NBA history (5.4) behind Mark Eaton.
Keep in mind that Chamberlain’s prowess was so legendary that you can find old news clippings of him after blocking shots in the teens or up to the 20s. Specifically, once when he blocked 16 shots, the LA Times scribe Mal Florence described his dominance as “sort of frightening- a real life Gulliver venting his rage on the little folks who played the game.”
He changed his game later in his career with the Los Angeles Lakers to be more of a defender and rebounder. Eaton was never much of a scorer, yet he was a towering figure at 7’4 and about 275 pounds; his weakness was mostly being effective as a low man.
Naturally, Wemby is much closer to Chamberlain than Eaton. If he wants to set a gold standard so he never loses motivation, he will always have Chamberlain’s records to chase. Yet it begs the question of how close could Wemby get to the old Dipper’s ‘73 block numbers and Eaton’s all-time record?
With all due respect to Chamberlain and Eaton, Wembanyama can top them.
First, think about how his defensive timing has made him sharper at guarding two players at once, and how he is the premier inside presence in the NBA. Notably, his 3.0 blocks per game are the lowest of his career after his rookie (3.6) and second year (3.8), but this is more about becoming a smarter defender, ensuring he doesn’t give up rebounding position, and he’s avoided like a cornerback who doesn’t get much action on his side of the field.
Thank goodness Chamberlain tapes exist, but the public doesn’t have access to nearly as many as they should, like how they would if they wanted to watch the careers of LeBron James, Stephen Curry or even what we have of Wemby now. However, modern times present an endless highlight reel that lives online, and it’s inescapable. One thing to consider was that many games were not recorded back in the day, so who knows how many of Chamberlain‘s victims were spared from embarrassment?
Aside from the intimidation factor of Wembanyama’s blocks, perhaps the easily accessible tapes/highlights are a reason he isn’t getting challenged more because opponents don’t want the evidence to linger for eternity. He’s adjusted with his snake-eyes technique to fool ball handlers by coming in as a helper, but that’s probably on the scouting report now, so he’ll have to take matters into his own hands further.
Still, there are nights when Wembanyama has brought a little extra to the matchup, like the 16 times this season he’s finished between five and nine blocks. He should do it more often because 1. it would boost his MVP case, and 2. the San Antonio Spurs are almost unbeatable with a 15-1 record on those nights.
He’s developed the habit over the last month of taking a step back on offense while his teammates get theirs since he knows he can go beast mode at any time. Hypothetically, if he cut down on his scoring like Chamberlain, he’d have more juice in his legs and could surpass Eaton’s highest block total/average in NBA history comfortably. He may not even need to do that in his prime; one noticeable improvement he’s made since his rookie year is becoming laterally faster, making him better on the perimeter.
To Wembanyama’s credit, he does a good job of keeping blocks in bounds and recovering them to get transition started. If he raised his block numbers it would make the Spurs faster on offense (currently fifth in tension frequency), and that’s something the fans would appreciate. Basketball’s beauty is mostly seen in the open court, and who doesn’t want to see more of the team’s high-level athletes on the runway?
Catching Chamberlain and Eaton is impossible this season, but he takes a significant leap going into each new one. So it would be a huge shocker if he hasn’t surpassed their marks in five years.
