Throughout the past 75 years of NBA history, basketball fans have been blessed to witness some of the most breathtaking athletes to ever roam the planet. Whether that be Michael Jordan and LeBron James and their science-defying athleticism, or players such as Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal. Both stood at 7’1 and 300 pounds and were as mobile and agile as they came with brute force that made opponents sore going to bed that night.
We’ve also seen Magic Johnson change the point guard position as a 6’9 playmaker, or Stephen Curry transform the game forever with his otherworldly shooting exploits from beyond the arc. But no player in the NBA’s history has combined the size, skill set, and freakish physical attributes of the 7’4, 210lb, “French Mamba,” Victor Wembanyama. He’s like a skyscraper looking down at you and is arguably the freakiest prospect ever by not only being 7-foot-4 but also boasting an insane 8-foot wingspan!
Victor Wembanyama is the most intriguing prospect ever.
Victor Wembanyama has been considered the best prospect in the world since he was just 16 years old by former NBA Draft expert, turned Portland Trail Blazers general manager, Mike Schmitz. It’s not just the sheer size that has many NBA GMs, executives, and fans drooling at the thought of how he’ll develop over his career.
Yes, we’ve seen guys with crazy measurements throughout NBA history but they never put it all together, ala Mohamed Bamba or Bol Bol. That said, Victor Wembanyama has been on NBA scouts’ and GMs’ radars for years now since he was about 15 years of age. When he was 16, a viral video of him playing two-on-two against fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert in a friendly match displayed his unique repertoire of skills.
His hype continued to grow after an eye-opening performance in the summer of 2021 at the U19 FIBA tournament, making the first team of the tournament along with two future NBA top-five picks in Jaden Ivey and 7-foot-1 Chet Holmgren, who also has similar skillset to Wembanyama. That game was Wembanyama’s true breakout party, as he put up 22 points, 8 rebounds, and a whopping 8 blocks against a USA team that he was more than two years younger than.
Wembanyama showed the entire package, from stepping out and knocking threes to swatting or altering shots to even doing a behind-the-back dribble in transition at 7’3 to finish at the rim! He was otherworldly in that game, but unfortunately, he and France lost to the USA in that gold medal game. However, even more, Wembanyama only emphasized why Schmitz dubbed him the best prospect in the world just nine months earlier, before this tournament.
Victor Wembanyama is rapidly improving and is a historic prospect.
Last season, playing for ASVEL, he averaged just 9.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and just under a steal and block per game. He shot 47% from the field, 26% from three, and 60% from the foul line at just 17 years of age, playing against grown men. Those might not have been slam dunk #1 overall pick numbers, but for you, analytic nerds, his PER 36 averages were 18.4 points, 10 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.7 steals, and an impressive 3.5 blocks per game.
He struggled with foul trouble, averaging 4.9 fouls per game, but showed flashes of the ability to put the ball on the floor, make shots off the dribble, protect the rim, and do things we rarely see from a big man. The hype for Wembanyama only heightened when his current team, Metropolitans 92, a French Pro League team, faced off against the NBA G League Ignite in a pair of exhibition games.
The Ignite have another fellow top draft prospect, Scoot Henderson, who’s projected to go No. 2 behind Wembanyama. Although Henderson had an amazing first game, sadly he missed most of the second exhibition game due to banging knees with Wembanyama. Still, it was Wembanyama who had the whole basketball world’s eyes in disbelief. Wembanyama finished with 37 points on 11-of-20 from the field (55%), an absurd 7-11 from three (63%), had four rebounds, and five blocks!
He was doing it all, from blocking shots on the perimeter to defending the rim at an elite level. He also showed insane shot creation ability, from pull-up threes in transition to curling off screens, and on one play even did a pull-back three just for fun and cashed it. As impressive as Wembanyama was in the first game, he was even better in the second one, scoring 36 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and dishing out 4 assists along with 4 blocks.
Wembanyama literally showed why he’s the best prospect since James and the slam dunk No.1 pick in June’s draft. The stuff he was doing was absurd, including a fall-away three, which he caught and hit while fading away to his right in the right corner. What about the hashmark three he made from about 28 feet out? It was just something mythical we, as basketball fans, were witnessing.
The hype surrounding Wembanyama is very much real.
Even some of the top NBA stars, such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Giannis Antetokounmpo praised the 7’4 freak from France. “Everybody has been a unicorn for the last two years, but he’s more like an alien. I’ve never seen—no one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is but as fluid and as graceful as he is out on the floor,”
James said.
Even NBA Senior Insider Adrian Wojnarowski said Wembanyama is the single greatest prospect he’s ever seen in NBA Draft history! That includes LeBron, Kareem, Magic, and so on. That’s ludicrous! The hype is out of this galaxy for Wembanyama, but it will all come down to if he can stay healthy, as history has shown many guys his size have not been able to have long and successful careers in the NBA.
From Kristaps Porzingis to Sam Bowie, Greg Oden, and Bill Walton, to name a few, it goes to show the long history of players that big, whose fate seems to be marred by injuries. Fortunately, Victor Wembanyama is a very intelligent kid, and he’s already seeing the best specialists in the world for feet, back, and so forth to find a way to combat the injury demons that have hurt a plethora of big men’s careers.
If he can stay healthy, well, watch out NBA, because this is your next face of the league. Let the tank games begin!