5 must-see NBA players every fan can’t afford to miss in 2023–24
San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
1. Victor Wembanyama, Forward/Center, San Antonio Spurs
Who else would be number one other than the NBA’s newest shiniest toy and most heralded rookie to enter the league since LeBron James twenty years earlier? None other than Spurs young star center Victor Wembanyama.
Wembanyama is a freak of nature standing at 7-foot-4 with an 8’0 wingspan who moves with the offensive grace of a Kevin Durant, has the strides of a Giannis, and defensive abilities of a Gobert with better ability to defend on the perimeter and move his feet.
https://youtu.be/RQTCC_gAxyI?si=Ened8nvqh93Erccz
It should be illegal to be so coordinated, agile, and smooth at 7’4! This is the next evolution of the NBA! Whether it’s the alley-oop that he caught and slammed down while starting from the three-point line, rejecting shots, and even altering others with his gargantuan length.
Basketball has never seen anything like this before and it just doesn’t even look real out there when watching him.
Wembanyama has been as good as advertised thus far through two preseason games on both ends of the court in limited minutes.
He even had a great duel with another fellow young unicorn 7-foot rookie starting his career as well due to missing all of his initial rookie season last year with a lisfranc injury in Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren.
These two are the successors of their legendary predecessors that paved the way for them such as Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki of the 2000s to Durant, Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis of the 2010s.
They look to take it to the next level, but none more than Wembanyama who at almost 7-foot-5 is doing unforeseen things of any athlete we’ve seen at that size.
He should be a force to be reckoned with right out of the gate as long as he stays healthy if the preseason is any indication of what’s to come, especially once he gets more minutes and reps under the mastermind of Gregg Popovich and the Spurs developmental staff.
If Wembanyama stays healthy and avoids serious injuries throughout his career… The NBA and basketball fans are in for a paradigm shifter ready to change the game and break the boundaries of what is possible on a basketball court. He’s the “Next Face” of the league.