Not every Victor Wembanyama game is going to be perfect, but all of them have been entertaining so far.
The San Antonio Spurs rookie delivered another batch of highlights on Friday against the Houston Rockets, overcoming a slow start to play a big role in the first win of his NBA career. Wembanyama finished with 21 points on 7-of-19 shooting (0-for-6 from deep), 12 rebounds, three blocks and two steals in the 126-122 overtime victory
The fun began early in the first quarter, when Wembanyama, who is 7-foot-4, and Spurs teammate Jeremy Sochan, who is 6-foot-8, both went up for a lob from Keldon Johnson. You can probably guess which player ended up with the alley-oop.
Should it count as an assist if your teammate takes the ball out of your hands near the rims?
It wasn’t the most productive or efficient game for Wembanyama, but expecting him to immediately become an elite player at the age of 19 is an unreasonable expectation. He still has a lot to learn about his place in an NBA offense and defense, but there are some things he can do that already make him worth the price of admission.
For example, take this reverse alley-oop in the third quarter, which he makes look disgustingly easy.
Two minutes later, Wembanyama was spinning and going under the basket for a wild dunk.
Wembanyama came up big down the stretch as well, again doing stuff that few other players are physically capable of doing. Down three points with a little more than two minutes left, Wembanyama faced a two-man fast break, blocked a would-be Jabari Smith Jr. dunk, then came back in bounds in time to block a putback attempt from Smith.
Down two with 20 seconds left in regulation, the Spurs again turned to Wembanyama. They were rewarded with a tough drive down the baseline for a game-tying lay-up.
Wembanyama contributed four more points in overtime as the Spurs took a big lead early and held off for the Rockets from there. Devin Vassell led the Spurs in scoring with 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while Zach Collins had nine points, eight assists and six rebounds.
The next Spurs showcase is scheduled for Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers, which will be the first regular season road game of Wembanyama’s career.