Victor Wembanyama’s stunning start to the season continued on Sunday when he put up 31 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, three steals and six blocks to lead the San Antonio Spurs past the Brooklyn Nets, 118-107. The Spurs are now 3-0 for the first time since 2019.
After his sophomore campaign was cut short by a blood clot in his shoulder, Wembanyama embarked on a “violent” offseason program that included a trip to a Shaolin temple in Zhengzhou, China, where he trained with monks and practiced meditation and Kung Fu.
“This summer, I chose to do something much more violent,” Wembanyama said. “Maybe that takes away from some time I can spend on shooting the basketball, but it doesn’t matter. I wanted to get my body back.”
Wembanyama’s unconventional methods have paid major early dividends. He had 40 points and 15 rebounds in the Spurs’ season opener, blocked nine shots in a win over the New Orleans Pelicans and through three games is averaging 33.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and six blocks on 57% shooting.
Victor Wembanyama might have just taken over the basketball world in the first game of the season
Brad Botkin
Wembanyama is the first player in league history with at least 100 points and 18 blocks through three games, and is tied for sixth in the league in scoring, fourth in rebounds and first in blocks by a wide margin. He’s also leading the NBA with 17 dunks.
It’s still extremely early, but at this rate Wembanyama is on pace to set the league’s single-season records for both blocks and dunks. He entered the season as the favorite for Defensive Player of the Year, and has now moved to -230 for that honor. More notably, he’s now the co-favorite for MVP with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at +230, per Caesars.
Wembanyama’s top five blocks
Wembanyama is the most terrifying defensive player in the league. Last season, he led the NBA in total blocks (176) despite playing just 46 games. Brook Lopez, who finished second with 148 blocks, suited up 80 times. This season has been more of the same from the big Frenchman.
Through three games, Wembanyama has already blocked 18 shots, good for an average of six per game. No one else in the league has more than seven total blocks. Wembanyama is on pace for 492 blocks, which would surpass the current single-season record of 456, set by Mark Eaton in 1985. (Note: The NBA did not start tracking blocks until the 1973-74 season.)
Whether Wembanyama plays enough to break Eaton’s record remains to be seen, but there’s no question that he has the defensive capability. Let’s take a look at his top five blocks so far this season.
5. A spin and swat
In the second quarter against the Pelicans, Wembanyama slides over the from the weakside to deal with a cut from Herb Jones, who decides not to go up initially. Instead, Jones dribbles away from the basket, at which point Wembanyama drops back a bit to stay attached to the rolling Derik Queen. Jones thinks that he’s tricked Wembanyama, but the big man is too long and quick. He pivots away from Jones, spins and gets the ball before it hits the backboard.
4. AD in disbelief
Just a few minutes into the Spurs’ season opener, the Mavericks threw the ball to Anthony Davis in the post. Davis quickly went up over the smaller Harrison Barnes, who didn’t even bother jumping, and appeared to have an easy basket. Wembanyama had other ideas. He arrived just in time to reach out his spindly arm and catch the ball just before it started its downward trajectory. The block came from such a unique angle that it went nearly straight up in the air. All Anthony Davis could do was put his arms up and look around for a goaltending call that was never coming.
3. A no-jump rejection of Zion
During the preseason, a clip of Wembanyama dunking while barely leaving the ground went viral. He didn’t need to leave the ground at all to record a big block on Zion Williamson during the Spurs’ win over the Pelicans. Williamson caught the ball on the perimeter and tried to go one-on-one with Wembanyama. While he was able to get a step on the bigger man, he didn’t create enough space. As he went up for a reverse layup, Wembanyama spiked the ball right back at him. Williamson recovered and tried to go up again, but Wembanyama rejected that attempt as well.
2. Two opponents, two blocks
We’ll include another double block at No. 2 on the list. Late in the first half against the Nets, Noah Clowney tried to bully Keldon Johnson and went up for a little jump hook. Wembanyama arrived from the weakside, however, to block the ball against the glass. The ricochet went to Terance Mann, who thought he had an easy putback. Instead, Wembanyama somehow recovered just in time to rise up and swat it away. Wembanyama was still on the ground when Mann was nearly at the rim, and it didn’t matter. Just for good measure, Wembanyama then went down and drained a deep pull-up 3-pointer.
1. Making Lively look like a child
In the third quarter against the Mavericks, Wembanyama stepped up in the lane to act as a deterrent on PJ Washington’s drive, and briefly lost track of Dereck Lively II’s location. Washington dumped the ball down to Lively, who tried a quick jump hook while Wembanyama was trying to get his bearings. Wembanyama has his back turned to Lively when he catches the ball, and is still on the ground as he lets go of it, but it didn’t matter. In the blink of an eye, Wembanyama spun, jumped and spiked the ball right into the arms of Stephon Castle. The disdain with which he blocks this shot is just incredible.
Wembanyama’s top five dunks
So far in Wembanyama’s career, offense has been more of a challenge for him than defense. While he wasn’t a bad offensive player in his first two seasons, his weaknesses were more apparent on that side of the ball. Stronger veterans were able to outmuscle him at times, he often settled for too many 3s and he could be turnover prone.
This season, however, opponents have had little hope. Wembanyama is scoring at will, particularly around the basket. Twenty-seven of his 65 field goal attempts (41.5%) have been in the restricted area, and he’s shooting 81.5% there. Last season, by comparison, just 24.1% of his field goal attempts came in the restricted area, and he shot 75.4% on them. Notably, his 3-point attempts are also down from 8.8 per game last season to 3.7 per game so far this season.
He’s clearly making a more concerted effort to get to the rim, and there’s nothing anyone can do once he’s there. Wembanyama already has a league-leading 17 dunks. The only other player in double figures is Giannis Antetokounmpo (13). At this rate, Wembanyama is on pace for 464 dunks, which would smash the single-season record of 306 set by Rudy Gobert in 2019. (Note: The NBA did not start tracking dunks until the 1996-97 season.)
Even if Wembanyama misses some time, he’s going to cruise past Gobert if he keeps dunking like this. Let’s take a look at his best slams so far.
5. A twisting slam with authority
Power and athleticism are the two major components of any highlight-reel dunk, and Wembanyama delivered plenty of both on this slam against the Mavericks. After pump-faking Lively out of the way, he ran a give-and-go with Dylan Harper. Lively rushed to recover, but was too late. Wembanyama caught the return pass and, even though his momentum was taking him toward the corner, he launched himself skyward and twisted his torso to throw down a huge jam, then spun around right in Lively’s face.
4. Go-go Gadget arms
In the fourth quarter against the Mavericks, we got another reminder of Wembanyama’s freakishly long wingspan. After setting a screen for Harper, Wembanyama rolled to the basket, though not with much speed. Harper found him, and Wembanyama immediately gathered and took off from behind the dotted circle. It didn’t seem as though he had enough momentum to get to the basket, but he reached out his arms and slammed it home just before he landed back on the ground.
Take a look at this freeze frame. Absurd.
3. Spinning and slamming
Wembanyama’s footwork and agility are unheard of at his size, and he’s able to operate like a guard at times on the perimeter. We saw that in overtime against the Pelicans, when he sized up Queen and went to work. After taking one dribble to his right, he spun back to the middle before the help could arrive and was at the rim in two steps. In fact, he spun a little too far and had to adjust in midair, but still threw it down with ease.
2. Acrobatic aerial display
Wembanyama is willing to put in the work to be great, and that includes doing the little things like running the floor hard. He reaped the rewards of doing so in the second quarter against the Mavericks. After Klay Thompson missed a jumper, Wembanyama raced the other way and beat Dwight Powell down the floor. Castle read the situation and threw the ball up to the rim. From there, it was all on Wembanyama. He caught the pass while turning his back to the rim, then threw down a remarkable reverse alley-oop.
1. Reverse windmill in traffic
Wembanyama’s best dunk of the season came in the second quarter against the Mavericks. He faked a spin to the baseline for a lob, which got Washington out of position, then took a pass from Harper, faced up and pump-faked Washington to the moon. As he drove baseline, Davis arrived from the weakside and swiped at the ball. Wembanyama adjusted to avoid Davis’ arm and drew a foul. He then continued on to the other side of the rim for a reverse windmill in traffic.
What can you even say? We’ve never seen anything like this.