NBA Victor Wembanyama

As San Antonio’s season draws to a close, it’s time to take stock for Victor Wembanyama and the Texans.

Questioned by journalists after the defeat against Philadelphia, the pivot was very frank about his first year in the league.

As so often this season, victory was not at the end for the Spurs. But it was not for lack of hanging on since Gregg Popovich’s men only lost after two overtimes against the Sixers (133-126).

It must be said that Victor Wembanyama gave his all again with a new all-time performance and highlights that are still spectacular:

If we except the poor collective record of the Texans (19 victories for 59 defeats), Wemby’s rookie season will have been a total success.

Highly anticipated, he did not disappoint with more than 21 points, almost 11 rebounds and 3.6 blocks on average.

But perhaps more importantly than the rest, he showed his franchise that it could count on him throughout the season since he just played his 69th game in 2023-24.

Victor Wembanyama surprised and reassured about his physique

A factor that is anything but negligible in the case of the Frenchman: being very frail and measuring 2m24, his ability to withstand physical shocks was called into question by some of his detractors.

Apart from a few injuries here and there, he held on and that allowed him to quickly find a cruising speed.

Questioned by journalists at a press conference, he admitted to being surprised by this:

I expected anything and everything, challenge and adversity, it was certainly no less than I imagined.

But at times, I was surprised by what was really hard in this league and what was easy.

You can’t know it until you experience it. (…) I thought it would be more from a physical point of view, the pain and all that.

What was really hard was playing every night and facing the superstars, putting into practice what had been read in the scouting reports and what the coach wanted us to do. Remembering all these things was the hardest part.

We sometimes forget it, but playing basketball does not only involve effort on the court but also the discipline to record all the tactical instructions.

Fortunately, the V rises to the occasion.

Given that he had experienced some small physical scares in the past and that he remains very frail for a pivot, there was reason to have some doubts about Victor Wembanyama before the start of the season.

Nearly 70 games later, they are gone.