San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama exceeded the hype last season, delivering one of the best seasons by a rookie in NBA history. While the team won’t get ahead of itself with long-term projections, some around the NBA believe San Antonio could have its best player in franchise history.
Heading into the 2023 NBA Draft, Wembanyama was considered to be the best draft prospect since LeBron James. Standing at 7-foot-4, he offered a defensive skill set that led many scouts to project he would win NBA Defensive Player of the Year multiple times early in his career.
- Victor Wembanyama stats (2023-’24): 21.4 PPG, 10.5 RPG< 3.9 APG, 3.6 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 46.5% FG
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Beyond his defensive ability, Wembanyama is viewed as the caliber of player who will be a perennial MVP candidate and can eventually help take the Spurs back to the NBA Finals. For those close to the game who saw his rookie season, they think the ceiling might be even higher than that.
Appearing on The WAE Show, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball made a case for why Wembanyama could become the best player in NBA history and he already views the best defensive player he’s ever seen.
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“Wemby’s probably the best defensive player…he might be the best defensive player we’ve ever seen. He gonna average, like you say, 5 to 6 blocks one year and that’s gonna be OD. He has a chance to be the best player ever, potentially, I’ll say that right now.”
Lonzo Ball on San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama
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- San Antonio Spurs cap space 2024: $21.31 million
In the second half of his rookie season, Wembanyama averaged 4.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game in 22 contests. He finished his rookie season with 4.4 Defensive Win Shares, the fifth-highest mark in the NBA. He also ranked second in Defensive Rating (105.8) and led the NBA in blocks per game.
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As Ball said during the interview, he and many other NBA players didn’t truly understand just how good Wembanyama was coming over from France when he came to the league. After seeing him play, Ball and many of his peers are confident that Wembanyama will soon be one of the best NBA players and could eventually become one of the all-time greats.