The hype has been justified, but the wins have been hard to come by for Victor Wembanyama. The top pick in the NBA draft, however, has not lost faith in the San Antonio Spurs.
Wembanyama has lived up to the expectations by leading San Antonio in points (19) and rebounds (9.4) in the first 16 games, but the Spurs haven’t been able to turn that into victories. San Antonio has lost 11 straight and will try to avoid a 12th when it visits the struggling Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.
The Spurs are in the midst of playing four of five games on the road and are coming off a 118-112 loss at Golden State in the NBA in-season tournament. Wembanyama scored 22 points and had nine rebounds while playing the first quarter in a jersey with his named misspelled “Wembanyana.”
He changed into a jersey with the correct spelling in the second quarter.
While it didn’t have an impact on the outcome, it could have given the 19-year-old star reason to question the club, but he is still happy in San Antonio. The Spurs haven’t won since Nov. 2 and have a real chance of finishing November with 13 straight losses.
“I am convinced about the organization,” he said. “I trust them. I trust the coach. We have got some of the greatest people ever with us. There is no way it doesn’t work. I know it is going to work someday.”
Sunday night might not be when it starts to work. Denver returns home after a disappointing 1-4 road trip that ended with a lackluster performance against Houston on Friday night. The Nuggets scored the first five points of the game but trailed by 26 points halfway through the second quarter.
Nikola Jokic has tried to carry the team with Jamal Murray sidelined due to a right hamstring strain. He has five triple-doubles in November, missed three more by one assist and the only game he didn’t record at least a double-double was against Detroit on Monday when he was ejected in the first half.
The supporting cast, other than against the Pistons, has been underwhelming. Aaron Gordon and Reggie Jackson combined to shoot 1-for-19 from the field against the Rockets and the reserves had just 10 points.
Although Murray is progressing from the injury suffered Nov. 4 against Chicago, he is not expected to return before the start of December, so head coach Michael Malone will have to rely on his bench.
“Minutes, I’m going to start playing different people,” Malone said after the loss to Houston. “You just can’t go out there because you think you’re going to play, and go out there and do nothing. You’ve got to bring something to the party.
“That’s the challenge when you have so many young, unproven players off the bench. But we also have games to win, and that delicate balance is a tightrope. But we need to win, and I’m going to play the guys that are going to help us get a win.”
– Field Level Media