OTHER THAN LIFTING THE BASKET, THERE IS NO DEFENSE FOR WEMBANYAMA
We might have understated hype for the phenom, who in five NBA games has ruled fourth quarters, freaked out players defensively and might be stalled only by thugs such as Godzilla, Kong … and Draymond
From sneaker heels to his head crown, he remains 7-4, though still a teenager who might soar higher. Already, the basketball world realizes Victor Wembanyama will not be stalled unless somebody goes thug — Godzilla, Kong and Draymond are activated. Defensively, he’s prompting enemies to ask why they ever picked up a round orange ball. Offensively, he has made 15 of 19 shots in the fourth quarter of his first five NBA games, the best of 117 league players who’ve tried 10.
“It’s a requirement,” he said of clutch moments, “if we’re being ambitious.”
And if he’s extra-ambitious, we’re viewing a character who might not be wrong when he desires to “win a ring ASAP.” I’m careful not to pre-judge, anticipating him as a savior who can add balance, quickness, muscles and genius to his body. But in his latest grand evening, when the San Antonio Spurs put off the title-minded Phoenix Suns for the second straight road game, Wembanyama seems to be an immediate “alien” — as LeBron James called him — who may have needed eight days to acquaint himself with the stars of his childhood dreams.
When he’s as agile as a point guard, while waiting to become one of America’s tallest buildings, it’s really as simple as Devin Booker put it. “He’s an unbelievable talent. Everyone knows that,” the Suns guard said after a double-whammy defeat. “We’re just trying to figure what he is because we’ve never seen him before. Next time we play him, we can make some adjustments to make it tougher. But he has an advantage of being 7-4 and being able to shoot over everybody.”
Firing three-pointers in the Steph Curry collection and taking over games by easily rising over opponents for dunks, well, you know what: The only defense for Wembanyama might be lifting the size of the 10-foot basket. Think I’m kidding? Jaren Jackson Jr. took home the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award at 6-10. He’s a half-foot shorter, at least. Brook Lopez, 7-1 at age 35, might give it a whirl, but whose legs do you like at this point? Draymond Green might have to do more than stomp on his chest and kick him in the crown jewels, as he infamously did to James. He’s just learning arenas and hotel lobbies for the first time, yet he’s shooting more than 59 percent on two-pointers. He handles the ball, finds open mates and shoots from about anywhere.
A reporter wondered what Kevin Durant, who blew the final seconds of the first game, thinks about being Wembanyama’s favorite player. “I’m old,” he said.
Turns out the Wemby hype, so far, was understated. He finished with 38 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks two nights after providing 18 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. In the final minutes Thursday, he dispatched the Suns with a killer three off a dribble, which might have bothered fans more than the Texas Rangers winning a baseball championship down an Arizona street. That was one World Series. This is a sports phenomenon of our time.
“I’d say it’s that a 20-point lead is nothing,” Wembanyama said of the NBA, making us wonder what he has in mind with a 30-point deficit. “Every game we try to find the spots that we need to hurt them. Today, it might have been in this way. Tomorrow, it will be someone else. That is how great teams work. If we want to be great, we need to play with everyone.”
A great team, he calls the Spurs, who will need time before they contend for a title in the difficult Western Conference. But they’ll make life hell for everyone, while thrilling us. “His enthusiasm for the game — you can tell that through the TV and playing against him. He’s his own player and own person,” Durant said. “He’s going to create his own lane and is much different than anyone else who has played. I don’t see anyone else like him in this game.”
There is no one else. Ever. Maybe ever again, unless he has children. Gregg Popovich used a dirty name to dismiss his friend, Steve Kerr, who pointed out the 74-year-old coach is rejuvenated by Wemby. “What was I being rejuvenated from? Was I in a mental institution, or was I depressed and curled up in my bedroom or something?” Popovich said. “Steve's an a--hole. And I'm going to tell him that tonight after the game.” More to the point, he has a chance to have another long run in a league that appeared to devour him after five titles through 2014.
“He’s a multi-faceted player — he’ll pass to the open guy,” Popovich said. “He’s got confidence in himself. He made some plays that were unbelievable. That combination is pretty good, if you have that skill and you’re willing to pass.”
Said Spurs guard Jeremy Sochan: “Were we amazed? I’m not sure, because we’ve seen that before.”
They watch his unicorn act every day. Better for the league and himself, Wemby is getting used to Texas, eating tacos in a cowboy hat and hanging out at local shops such as Blue Star Arts Complex, where he shares creative drawing skills. Isn’t he much better off there? Imagine his act in New York or Los Angeles. He’s as big as the Alamo, or Tim Duncan and David Robinson, in a matter of months. “He doesn't let the hype or the media come into his life or affect him as a person,” forward Keldon Johnson said. “He's been outgoing, energetic and great. He's been great. All the other things that come with Vic being an amazing basketball player, we just keep that on the outside.”
All he cares about is winning. Distraught as he was after losing on opening night, he has won three of four since. Larry O’Brien Trophy, baby? Wemby refuses to hear the yapping. “They know I don't care about it," he said of his teammates. “I’m here to make sacrifices for them and I think when it's needed, they're also going to make sacrifices for me. And they know it's different. They know it's going to happen. Of course, there's going to be a lot of attention, but it's at the end of the day when everything is done and we're at practice and I'm like, ‘Yeah, OK, what do we do to get this thing better?’ So it's really stuff we don't care about. It's basketball first.”
The league is proving quickly that it operates in new ways. The first “In-Season Tournament” began Friday night, if only to bring novel attention to a schedule that was dragging from October to April. Whoever wins the NBA Cup on Dec. 9, in Las Vegas, may or may not coincide with the common postseason. But drawing from soccer’s Champions League, which pits top European teams domestically, Adam Silver wants an early competition to attract interest and, more importantly, to excite media networks making multiple-season financial bids.
“We’re looking to create a new tradition here, and as the saying goes, new traditions aren’t created overnight,” the commissioner said. “It will be the fans and the coverage, which will be telling us whether this is working or not.”
Against the NFL and college football, expect yawns. As Miami’s Jimmy Butler said with a grin, “You want me to tell the truth? I just love hooping. I don't care what you call it. I just like to play basketball. That's all I'm going to say.”
Those of us who love this sport only have to find a Spurs game. A league doesn’t need to conceive Victor Wembanyama. On a planet of weird artificial intelligence and crypto, this singular wonder of progressive humanity is well worth your hours and, it seems, decades of grandeur. A French word, so it seems.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.