The morning after the San Antonio Spurs selected Victor Wembanyama with the first overall pick in June 2023, legendary NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski draped some of the loftiest expectations we’ve ever heard.
“He very well could be an All-Star in his first season,” he said on ESPN’s Get Up. “There’s no shortage of executives who I really respect in the NBA who think he could be the best player at both ends of the floor by his third or fourth year.”
As it turns out, Wemby wasn’t an All-Star as a rookie. But we’re now on to that third year—and that second prediction is within play.
In his 2025-26 debut, he faced the Dallas Mavericks, was often “defended” by Anthony Davis, and he finished the game with 40 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.
Wembanyama shot 15-of-21 from the field. He was plus-31 in the Spurs’ 125-92 road victory, accomplishing all of that in just 30 minutes.
Words don’t really do it justice, because, as you’ve probably heard, we’ve never experienced anything like this in sports. Wemby has to be seen to be believed.
There are hints of Giannis Antetokounmpo there—like the freakish combination of length and athleticism and the guard skills in a big man’s body—but Wemby is somehow longer.
He’s also a much smoother jump shooter, which is where the Kevin Durant comparisons come from. The difference there (other than the length again) is that the Frenchman is the best rim protector and most dominant defender in the NBA. At his peak, KD was a good defender, but he was never that.
Wemby also shares some traits with prime Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and those go beyond defensive impact. After his summer training sessions with Hakeem Olajuwon, he looks even more adept in the post.
Somehow, at 22 years old, Wembanyama has already earned reasonable comparisons to all of the all-timers above. Even with his 7’4″ frame, that’s a lot of ingredients to fit into one basketball cocktail. And yet, he has.
It was on vivid display Wednesday.
Even though often guarded by Davis, Wembanyama had little to no trouble ball-handling his way around perimeter defense and getting all the way to the rim. On the occasions he was kept outside the paint, he hit contested jumpers. And on those possessions, he almost looked like he was just showing off. It was as though he recognized the defender in front of him and thought: “Wouldn’t it be funny if I hit a couple between-the-legs dribbles and hit a stepback three?”
He wasn’t just creating his own buckets, either. There is skill involved in being a play finisher, and Wemby ended multiple possessions as the oop on the end of an alley. He beat Dallas’ bigs down the floor in transition. He moves without the ball like a guard.
Altogether, the game wound up looking more like a bunch of kids playing on a nerf hoop in the basement. Wemby was the older brother. He was bigger, better, and maybe even meaner than anyone else.
Despite being a decade older and 20 pounds heavier, AD looked very much like the scrappy younger sibling. He tried to get the stops, but in the end, all Wemby had to do was chuck that little ball through a hoop barely above his eye level.
And again, this was against Anthony Davis. He was an All-Star last season. Had he played enough games, he likely would have made his sixth All-Defense team. If Wembanyama could so casually do this to AD, just imagine what kind of nights he might have against Deandre Ayton or Jock Landale. Think about rookie Ryan Kalkbrenner, who’s already starting at the 5 for the Charlotte Hornets.
We almost certainly haven’t seen Wembanyama’s best performance of this season.
And when you consider the way he’s impacting the game as both an offensive and defensive weapon, even in a league featuring Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Dončić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he may already be forcing his way into the “best player in the world conversation.”
Back when he was drafted, Wojnarowski’s reporting almost felt unfair (it wasn’t). He also said Wemby might be the greatest prospect in the history of professional sports (he might have been).
Just over two short years later, Wembanyama is making that early analysis almost seem conservative.
