At the end of the first half San Antonio Spurs'opening of the season crushing victory with a score of 125-92 over Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, Victor Vembanyama collided with P.J. Washington on the right flank. He shot falsely. Washington a bit. And what Wembanyama did next was, if you didn't see it with your own eyes, truly incredible.
The 7-foot-5 man took one shot and then launched himself into a swinging, up-and-down, damn-close reverse double-pump shot…in traffic…on the opposite side of the hoop.
“A figment of our basketball imagination!” It was ESPN announcer Ryan Ruocco's first bid for the year, and frankly, those were the only words that could have sufficed at that moment. It was the perfect challenge for someone who could become a truly perfect basketball player.
Words like “incredible” are everywhere. NBA It's too easy to say. What is usually described is more than just an incredible play – at least for athletes of this caliber. But let me tell you something What it was incredible. Honestly, the whole Wembanyama night was incredible. The dude scored 40 points on 15-of-21 shooting, plus 15 rebounds, three blocks and posted a game-high plus 31 in just 29 minutes.
Of course, we've already seen similar numbers on their own. However, in the aggregate it is a completely different story. Vembanyama became the first player since the NBA-ABA merger in 1977–78 to record 40 points and 15 rebounds while shooting 70% from the field and zero turnovers.
But forget the numbers. What we saw on Wednesday night cannot be measured by statistics. It was, and is, the epitome of athletic evolution: a human skyscraper snatching shots out of the air like a dinosaur picking fruit—casually reaching out and furiously pouncing on some of the biggest men on the planet as if they were schoolchildren, pushing the ball in transition and hitting nondescript passes into the corner, all the while dropping four-point plays with a step-back and kissing one foot off the glass and generally operating with the footwork and ball-handling skills of the 6-foot point guard.
Before Victor Vembanyama, such a film did not exist.
I don't even know where to start, but maybe I should start with the fact that he did it against Anthony Davisperhaps the best defender in the world is not named Wembanyama. Davis picked up four fouls in the first half as he struggled to keep pace with Wembanyama. He was helpless. If you watched the full clip above, you've already seen this, but just in case, check out this shakedown Wemby gave Davis.
Come on, man. You couldn't play better than this defense, and it didn't matter in the slightest. I've ranked Vembanyama fifth in my top 100 players this season and that already seems ridiculously low. Of course, it was always a matter of time before Vembanyama became the best player in the world, but no one thought that the time would come so soon.
Perhaps this is not the case. Perhaps it was one game. But perhaps not. I'm actually leaning towards the latter. Combining that level of skill with that size is a foregone conclusion for basketball. I've never seen anything like it. Nobody has. I don't care if you grew up with Wilt Chamberlain or if you think Ralph Sampson would be like this if he came along in this era.
Anyway, this is completely new. And the dude is only 21 years old. Incredible. Literally, incredible. Victor Vembanyama, man. The basketball world is yours.
