Tuesday NBA: French teen Wembanyama passing early tests with Spurs
Here’s some of what San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama has experienced so far in the NBA: Scoring 38 points in a game, playing in a back-to-back for the first time, being part of two 40-point losses, wasting a huge lead and losing, overcoming a huge deficit and winning.
It’s been an education.
And by all accounts, the French rookie who stands nearly 7-foot-4 is passing the tests.
Wembanyama’s numbers so far – 19.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. The last player to have such averages over the first seven games of his career was Shaquille O’Neal in 1992. Back then, the consensus was O’Neal was one of a kind. The refrains are familiar today.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said.
It’s a different game now, but it’s hard to argue what Carlisle is saying when factoring in the inside-outside game that Wembanyama possesses. There’s never been a rookie who averaged so many points and rebounds along with one 3-pointer made per game. Larry Bird was the closest; it’s a small sample size, but Wembanyama is making nearly two 3s per contest so far.
The league is raving about the kid who goes by Wemby, and has been from the moment he got drafted – long before that night, really. That hasn’t changed, nor has Wembanyama’s humble approach.
“Every night is a challenge,” Wembanyama said. “I’ve still got a lot to prove to my teammates and my coach.”
His coach might disagree.
Gregg Popovich – the Hall of Famer, the winningest coach in NBA history and someone who just happened to sign a five-year extension shortly after Wembanyama came to the Spurs – makes no effort to downplay his new star’s enormous potential.
“The first thing I would say is that his parents did a very good job,” Popovich said. “He's one of the most mature 19-year-olds I've ever been around. His character is incredible. His view of the world is mature. He understands who he is, he feels comfortable in his own skin. He knows that all the hype that has been pretty thick, everywhere, is something to be ignored. He realizes he has work to do. Talent is talent, but he's going to channel that and figure out exactly what his game should be.”
The lessons have come fast and furious in the first two weeks.
Actually, go back a little. Preseason games are largely forgettable in the NBA, but Wembanyama made the Spurs' exhibitions must-see TV. They were spectacles; Golden State guard Stephen Curry – who is only about a foot shorter than Wembanyama – added to the circus of it all by trying to jump center in the Warriors' exhibition against the Spurs. Shockingly, Wembanyama won that tip, but that night was a reminder of the spotlight that will shine every time San Antonio plays for the foreseeable future.
“The guy's going to be great,” said Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, who entered the league with great fanfare as the highly touted No. 1 pick in 2003 – and watched Wembanyama deal with the same otherworldly expectations 20 years later. “He's already damn good right now and I think every game, every opportunity he's on the floor, he's going to continue to get better and better and see the nuances of the game and ways he can play and ways he can exploit the competition. So, he's going to be great.”
If he needed a coming-out party, Wembanyama probably had one last week with a pair of wins in Phoenix.
On Oct. 31, the Spurs rallied from 20 points down to beat the Suns 115-114 after trailing for 47-1/2 of the 48 minutes; two nights later, Wembanyama had 38 points and 10 rebounds and the Spurs beat the Suns again, 132-121.
“He's going to be a force in this league for a long time,” Suns forward Kevin Durant said. “Once he continues to get experience under his belt, he's just going to get even better.”
There have been rough nights as well. The Spurs lost to the Los Angeles Clippers by 40 last week, then lost to Indiana by 41 on Monday night. They became just the second team in NBA history to have two 40-point losses in the first seven games of the season; the other was the 2017-18 Suns, who went on to be the league's worst team that year.
The Spurs have decidedly higher aspirations and so does Wembanyama. Popovich has never been one for false or effusive praise, but already raves about Wembanyama's coachability, his relationships with teammates, his outlook on life and calls him “a very special young man.”
“He just comes to work every day, just like every other player,” Popovich said. “You have a system and he’s got to learn it. He’s got to learn the league. He’s never played against any of these guys or with any of these guys on our team. It’s just a process. There’s no formula. You just try not to skip any steps. Luckily, he’s an intelligent, coachable young man and he’ll eventually get there. He will be a great player. But he’s got some learning to do first, just like any other player.”
Mavs' Doncic, Irving come through in the clutch
Luka Doncic has been at his best – one of the NBA's best, too, for that matter – in crunch time this season.
Same with the Dallas Mavericks, who are a league-leading 6-0 in clutch situations, which are defined as a scoring margin within five points and five or fewer minutes left in a game.
It's a small sample size, but the Mavericks look to be taking shape in the first full season of the on-court collaboration between Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
Last season, the Mavericks struggled in clutch time, posting a 6-15 mark after Irving's arrival in the lineup following the trade with Brooklyn. The team ended up missing the postseason.
They just needed a little more time, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd contended, to fine tune their chemistry.
Now, they appear on the same page.
“When you have 77 (Doncic) and 11 (Irving) it’s an easy thing,” Kidd said of clutch moments. “We talked about last year. As much as we wanted for things to happen right away, you’ve got to go through the process of growing pains and getting to know one another.
“The other side of that, we’ve spent a lot of time on in-game situations, and everybody’s very comfortable.”
Lost in all the Victor Wembanyama mania and the James Harden trade saga has been the play of Doncic, who looks even more dynamic than ever, which is saying quite a bit about the point guard.
Even better, perhaps, than his video game version on “NBA 2K” (very “near,” rookie teammate Dereck Lively II cracked).
The 24-year-old Slovenian is doing, well, Luka things.
Doncic is nearly averaging a triple-double. And continuing the “it's never too early to talk about league MVP award” conversation, Doncic's odds, according to FanDuel Sportsook, are just slightly less than that of his buddy and two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
“It’s always nice to play against him,” said Jokic, whose team beat the Mavericks 125-114 last week. “He’s a great player. He’s unique. He’s controlling the game. He’s so versatile.”
Couple that with Irving and it’s led to a hot start for the Mavericks (6-1), who have the second-best mark in the Western Conference. They trail – only slightly – the reigning NBA-champion Nuggets (7-1).
“It’s been fun basketball,” Irving said. “It’s been fun to play.”
Doncic checks in at third on a list of seven players who have 20 or more “clutch points” so far this season. He's 8 of 11 for 25 points down the stretch of close games, behind just Stephen Curry (28) and LeBron James (26). Also on the list are Damian Lillard (24), Donovan Mitchell (23), Wembanyama (23), the rookie sensation from France who’s taken the league by storm, and Mikal Bridges (20).
“On offense, (Doncic) just always finds the right play,” explained Lively, the 7-foot-1 rookie center out of Duke. “And if you don’t see the right play, he’ll find it himself. No matter if that’s him getting the shot, his teammates getting a shot or him throwing a lob, or just being able to find the open man. He does an excellent job of doing that.”
Doncic's also sharing the leadership load, with Irving and Grant Williams, the versatile power forward who was acquired from Boston as part of a three-team offseason deal.
That is creating even more freedom for Doncic.
“He impacts the game across the board – his elite scoring, playmaking, rebounding,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “It’s his team, and he makes everyone around him better. And we know that when he gets that ball, he can make a big, big shot. He loves the moment. He lives for the moment."
Always has. Doncic wasn't sure when that began, because even as a kid no moment seemed too big.
“I just like playing basketball,” Doncic said. “And it’s always the big moments that are the most important. You’re not always going to be on your ‘A’ game, but it just gets something going in me.”
Doncic counts Jokic as one of his good friends. They joke around. They tease one another. And while they rarely talk hoops, they have much admiration for one another on the floor.
“All the players or the coaches know how special he is,” Doncic said of Jokic, who won the NBA Finals MVP last season after leading the Nuggets to the franchise's first title. “He’s right now probably the best basketball player in the world.”
If that's the case, Doncic is right there, too.
“He just destroyed us,” Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said after 124-118 loss to the Mavs in a game where Doncic had 23 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. "They had him for nine assists, but he created almost their entire offense. We couldn’t figure out a way to stop him.”
A common theme right now. If not Doncic, then it's Irving.
“By having an offseason, having a training camp," Malone said, “those guys are just getting more comfortable.”
“He just destroyed us,” Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said after 124-118 loss to the Mavs in a game where Doncic had 23 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. "They had him for nine assists, but he created almost their entire offense. We couldn’t figure out a way to stop him.”
A common theme right now. If not Doncic, then it's Irving.
“By having an offseason, having a training camp," Malone said, “those guys are just getting more comfortable.”
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