Victor Wembanyama landed at No. 1 on FanSided's 25-under-25 NBA Player Rankings this season, ranking the best young players in the NBA. Check out the rest of the list here.
When I was younger, we used to rent a house at the Jersey shore with my dad for about a week each summer. We'd go to the beach, play games on the boardwalk and eat more freezie pops than should be legal. One time, they held a sort of beach Olympics for all the kids to participate in. Being a 13-year-old sports nut, I signed up for every event, only to find out that I was by far the oldest one there. Did I take pity on the 9- and 10-year-olds I was up against? Empathy wasn't my strength back then, so when it was all over, I had a veritable mountain of blue ribbons after dominating in the various races and competitions.
This is an article about 21-year-old French prodigy Victor Wembanyama, and I think you can see where I'm going with this. Wemby doesn't have the experience edge that I had on those poor kids, but he's so physically superior to the rest of the league that it's almost as unfair.
When evaluating young players, NBA teams gravitate towards potential over established results, hence why we see the lottery littered each year with unproven college freshmen over their more accomplished senior counterparts. Wemby is the easy choice for the top spot in our 25-under-25 rankings because not only has he proven himself in two years to be among the NBA's best players already, he's also barely scraping the surface of his otherworldly potential.
Most players have a range of outcomes to their career. The typical No. 1 pick, for example, is usually somewhere between "serviceable rotation player" and "perennial All-Star." When it comes to Wemby, I'll paraphrase Lindsay Lohan from Mean Girls to say that the ceiling does not exist. Could he become the greatest player of all-time? It's not ridiculous to say, not with his combination of guard-like skills and Ralph Sampson's height.
Speaking of height, Wemby apparently grew another inch this summer. He's now officially listed at 7-foot-5, although people in the know believe he's closer to 7-foot-7. He also said that he's gained 30 pounds of muscle since last season ended. He's a real life Monstar, making his nickname of the Alien rather perfect.
Wemby is still polishing his offensive game, but even in its raw form, he still averaged over 24 points per game last year while shooting over 35 percent on nearly nine 3 attempts. He can handle the ball down low or on the perimeter, and he's a willing and capable passer. The best defense other teams have on him already is just to hope that he misses.
Defensively, he's already the hands-down best in the game, to the point that we can pencil him in for the next 10 Defensive Player of the Year awards if we knew that he'd play the minimum 65 games. His ability to block and alter shots is unlike anything basketball has ever seen, and he was cruising to the award last year before a blood clot ended his season early. If he's on the court, nobody is safe, because unlike most of the great shot-blockers throughout history, he's not confined to the paint. He's just as comfortable protecting the rim as he is switching out onto an All-NBA guard, and with his newfound muscle, the brutes of the league are going to be left without an answer as to how they can possibly score on him.
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Victor Wembanyama is a lot more than height and wingspan
Wemby has all the physical gifts in the world, but he's also showing the mental maturity and intellectual curiosity of a young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This summer he basically did a one-man run of The Amazing Race, from playing soccer in South America, to learning kung fu and meditation while training with the Shaolin monks in China, to training with greats like Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon. When he had some free time during a New York road trip last season, he played chess in the rain with any New Yorker who dared challenge him. This is not a man who will be satisfied with being good or even great. He wants to be the best.
It's not a matter of if Wemby is going to take over the league, it's when. Nobody has been this much of a sure thing since LeBron James, but whereas it took some time for the Cavs to surround a young LBJ with a roster befitting his talents, the Spurs have made moves to reflect the rapid growth of their best player. De'Aaron Fox came over at the trade deadline last year, while Stephon Castle gave San Antonio its second straight Rookie of the Year winner. No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper is now in town to help even more, as are free agent pickup Luke Kornet and trade acquisition Kelly Olynyk.
The West is a gauntlet, but if there's one young player who has a chance to drag his team into the upper echelon, it's Wemby, and he's just getting started.