One of the bigger surprises of the NBA season has been the San Antonio Spurs, who have been far more competitve than in recent years. Part of the success has been their improved defense with Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner Victor Wembanyama carrying them. However, he has been equally impactful on offense where he is on pace to smash a team record.
The Spurs, historically, have trended behind the rest of the NBA in terms of three-point shooting, often ranking near the bottom of the league in attempts. Nevertheless, with Wembanyama attempting 9.2 threes per game, which ranks twelth in the NBA, he has a chance to rewrite the team's record books.
The Spurs' single-season record for made 3-pointers is currently held by team legend Danny Green who hit 191 threes in 2014-15. Wembanyama has 56 made threes in 18 games played. If he were to play 72 games like last season and continue to hit 3.2 made threes per game, then he would finish with 223 threes.
Perhaps most impressive, he is shooting near league average on threes after he was hitting just 22% to start the season.
Victor Wembanyama is on pace to shatter the Spurs single-season 3-point record.
Wembanyama torching the existing 3-point record is a major step in his development with him previously being seen as a theoretical shooter rather than an actual one when he was initially drafted. While he still has a ways to go to become an elite shooter, his attempting so many threes per game forces teams to guard him out to 25 feet.
Especially with him often taking 3-pointers at the top of the three-point line, which is the farthest point from the basket. His playing center also forces opposing big men away from the basket and ensures clear driving lanes for other first players such as Keldon Johnson, Stephon Castle, and Devin Vassell.
Not only that but he is skilled enough to pump fake, put the ball on the floor, and attack the basket. Having a center attempt more than nine threes a game will keep big men from camping out in the paint and opens up plenty of opportunities for Wemby and the Spurs.
Going forward, he will have to balance his tendency to launch from the outside with getting shots inside the paint. Currently, he is taking nine 2-point field goal attempts per game, almost perfectly balancing his shot selection between inside and outside the arc.
Doing so would give the Spurs the best of both worlds with Wembanyama shooting a blistering 61.7% from two and a respectable 33.7% from three on high-volume. If he can continue to bury threes and stay healthy then he will almost certainly set the Spurs single-season record for made threes.