San Antonio Spurs (DR)

Little by little, Victor Wembanyama is getting closer to the end of his first season on the NBA floor. The Frenchman can therefore paint a rather detailed portrait of his experience in San Antonio and as he explained to journalists, one detail in particular stood out to him during these few months in the United States.

Since the Spurs are dead last in the Western Conference, their season will end in a few weeks, in mid-April to be more precise. Until then, Victor Wembanyama intends to give everything in the final sprint and that should allow him to boost his statistics a little more. Already the best blocker in the league even though he is only a rookie, the pivot destroys absolutely everything in his half of the field.

Left is the 2023 DPOY. Right is Wemby.

65 STL 74 STL
189 BLK 197 BLK

Wemby already has more stocks than any DPOY since 2011. pic.twitter.com/mIgiYMBYKg

— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 15, 2024

Jaren Jackson Jr. during his DPOY season in 2023: 65 interceptions and 189 blocks. Wemby this season: 74 interceptions and 197 blocks. Wemby already has more cumulative steals and blocks than any DPOY since 2011.

He made it clear to Rudy Gobert in particular, the V intends to capture the trophy one day and we want to believe it, especially if the Spurs progress quickly in this sector.

Wembanyama marked by the consistency of NBA stars

It has now been almost nine months since the first pick of the last draft has been in the United States, becoming the darling of the media and fans in no time. Showing himself to be very mature for his age, Wemby was however able to ignore all this and this is evident in his analysis of his first steps in the US. One element in particular stood out to him when discussing the lessons learned from 2023-24:

(What impressed me the most) is how the top players are so consistent. It’s really hard to stay that consistent for 82 games. So yeah, taking on that challenge every night, analyzing scout reports on opponents, fighting through pain and adversity, that impressed me.

An NBA season is very long, much longer than what he experienced in Europe for example. Remember that last season, he only played 34 games with Boulogne-Levallois… But he knows, he will have to perform every night to be part of the elite of the league. Even more so if he wants San Antonio to win matches, something which has rarely been done this season and which he wants to remedy as quickly as possible.

Victor Wembanyama still has many years ahead of him in the NBA and we will expect him to be dominant throughout his career. Consistency will therefore be the key for him, while some observers already see him as a potential candidate for the debate of the best player of all time.