He's probably going to be the runaway, if not unanimous, choice for defensive player of the year. He's going to make this season's All-NBA team. He's going to get some MVP votes. He's already a global superstar.
Victor Wembanyama has met every expectation. Except, perhaps, his own.
He came to the San Antonio Spurs three years ago as the No. 1 draft pick and hoping to lead a revitalization, one where a perennial title contender that got stuck in a rebuilding
cycle would finally rise again. So far, so good — the Spurs just finished their best season in a decade, going 62-20.
And now, the really good stuff — the playoffs — awaits.
“How ready? As ready as you can be,” Wembanyama said when asked about his level of preparation for his first look at the NBA postseason. “These moments, it’s really what you work on all year, but also your whole career. We’re dreaming of playoffs as kids before we come here.”
History says these second-seeded Spurs, who open the Western Conference playoffs at home against No. 7 Portland on Sunday night, could be poised to make a deep run.
Of the other 15 clubs in franchise history that finished with a winning percentage of .700 or better, 14 won at least one playoff series, 10 made the NBA’s final four, six went to the NBA Finals and five won championships.
The core then: Gregg Popovich as coach, leading names like Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The core now: Mitch Johnson as coach, leading names like Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox and Wembanyama — who seems to make all things possible.
“He’s embraced the city and the city’s embraced him, the stepping foot into the community,” Johnson said. “And it’s been genuine and it’s been authentic. ... It's pretty cool to witness upfront.”
To say Wembanyama — who is at least 7-foot-4, and somehow has other 7-foot men in the NBA gawking about how tall he seems — is unique is somehow an understatement. How many other 21-year-olds in the NBA draw headlines for spending part of their summers at a Buddhist temple (as he did last summer) as part of basketball training, bring books to read at the All-Star Game (to the disbelief of some fellow All-Stars) and can show off math skills during press conferences (as he did of late while debating the NBA's 65-game rule)?
Not many.
“He's unique,” Spurs forward Harrison Barnes said, knowing he was stating the obvious.
Wembanyama’s numbers this season: 1,600 points, 736 rebounds, 199 assists, 197 blocked shots, 122 3-pointers. Nobody in NBA history has ever finished a season with those totals, and the blocked shots are the biggest factor in why he stands alone there.
So, take the blocks out. Grade him in history on points, rebounds, assists and 3s for a season. Do that, and here's the full list of players to reach his totals in just those categories in one season: Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, DeMarcus Cousins, Karl-Anthony Towns (twice), Nikola Vucevic, Julius Randle and Nikola Jokic. That's it.
“He's a 7-5 guy that can handle the ball, shoot, guard the rim, guard the perimeter, all the little things,” said Portland coach Tiago Splitter, who went to the NBA Finals as a player on some of the great San Antonio teams and was part of the Spurs' most recent championship in 2014. “It's not a secret. He's a very good player.”
Oddsmakers say San Antonio is the second choice behind only defending champion Oklahoma City — the West's No. 1 seed — to win the NBA title. That means there is an expectation, and a realistic one, that Wembanyama's playoff debut might not just be a smashing success but might wind up bringing the ultimate success.
He was rookie of the year two years ago. He was on his way to winning defensive player of the year last season before his year got cut short by a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis. He's eligible for all the big NBA awards this season, and basketball fans seem like they simply cannot get enough info about everything he does.
Now, the NBA's biggest stage awaits San Antonio's biggest star. He's played for Olympic gold before, so he knows what extremely high-stakes basketball is like, but his first chance to compete for an NBA championship is finally here.
“I can’t really help but dream about it, of course,” Wembanyama said. “But we have to stay grounded, stay in the moment. And before even thinking about Game 1, I have to think about showing up the right way. Practice, doing all my stuff, preparing, being locked in on the scouts. But yeah, I dream about it every day.”
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