Victor Wembanyama is getting ready for his first experience of NBA Playoff basketball after leading the San Antonio Spurs to a 62-20 record and earning the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Despite doubts being cast over the Spurs’ youth and Wembanyama’s ability to lead a team offensively, the franchise and its star player have both excelled this season.
Wembanyama is averaging 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks and is expected to be an MVP finalist alongside Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, while also being expected to win Defensive Player of the Year unanimously. The 7’4″ center is already changing the NBA after being hyped up for years before he came over to the league in 2023.
Wembanyama’s skill at his size makes him play more with the ball in his hands and on the perimeter than a center of his size ever has historically. As a result, on a recent episode of FanDuel TV’s ‘Run It Back,’ former NBA guard Cuttino Mobley, who played from 1998 to 2008, claimed that Wembanyama isn’t a center and wouldn’t survive in the ’90s, while comparing him to Kevin Garnett and Kevin Durant.
“I don’t think he’s a center. He’s just a ball player, he’s just tall. He’s doing tween tween behind fades, that’s not a center. I mean, the closest thing I’ve seen is… Kevin Garnett in what was it, ’90… You couldn’t beat him. And then there’s KD that came along, and that’s Wemby basically.”
Mobley then ridiculed the idea of Wembanyama playing as a center in the ’90s due to the physicality of the game back then, especially center play with bruisers like Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O’Neal, and Rik Smits around.
“If you’re going to play center, Wemby, during my time – Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O’Neal. Roughed up? You are sitting on the bench. You’re not playing, bruh. Rik Smits would kill you. It’s not the same world.”
Every player who had their heyday in the physicality-driven era of the ’80s and ’90s tends to have this view on modern basketball. They aren’t wrong in saying that either, as NBA rule changes over the last two decades have reduced the game’s physicality and allowed on-ball players to thrive and showcase their skill without worrying about getting outmuscled by physical defenders.
All the players Mobley mentioned would struggle to keep up with Wembanyama defensively if he insisted on matching up with them on the perimeter and attacking the rim instead of playing traditional center post-up basketball.
If Wembanyama came up in the ’90s instead of now, he’d likely adjust his game accordingly for what was needed at that time. If he were a completely non-shooting defensive powerhouse at center, he’d still be a prized player but not have the all-time trajectory he does now. After all, Rudy Gobert still isn’t getting his respect as a defender despite being the prototypical rim-protecting defensive center, primarily because he’s not an impactful offensive player outside the rim.
Wembanyama has consciously developed a perimeter skillset to be impossible to guard. If he’s getting beaten up inside, he can take any center out onto the perimeter and attack them from there. His defensive reach alone has already made him the most impactful defender the league has seen in a generation. The skills he’s developed are what all No. 1 scoring options in the NBA need to have.
Wembanyama isn’t content with being just a 7’4″ defensive phenom; he wants to be remembered as one of the most influential players of his generation. He can’t do that by listening to what players of a bygone era believe, as the game needs to evolve.
