Victor Wembanyama dominated as the San Antonio Spurs crushed the Los Angeles Lakers 136-108 at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. Wembanyama had racked up 25 points in the first quarter alone, and Lakers head coach JJ Redick was full of praise for the Frenchman in his postgame press conference.
“He’s one of the five best players in the world,” Redick said. “He’s put that stamp on himself… To me, it’s more than counting stats with him because there’s such an avoidance of him defensively. And there’s an awareness you have to have from him defensively. Sean [Sweeney] has done a good job this year with their defense, and he’s the center of that.
“He impacts the game in ways that don’t show up in a box score,” Redick added. “On top of that, he’s one-of-one as a human. You can see the collective belief and collective culture that they’ve established over the last few years with him.”
Wembanyama does have a case to be considered a top-five player. The 22-year-old is by far the best defender in the NBA, and the Lakers were hesitant to even attempt shots at the basket when he was anywhere near them.
Wembanyama forces teams to alter their game plan in a way that maybe no other player ever has. His defensive prowess alone might make him a top-10 player.
Add Wembanyama’s offensive prowess to the mix, and you potentially get a top-five player. He had those 25 points in the first eight minutes against the Lakers here. Had the game been remotely competitive, we might have seen him make history.
Wembanyama finished with 40 points (13-20 FG), 12 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block in 26 minutes. Granted, the Lakers were without LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton, and Marcus Smart, but it’s not like they’d have had a prayer of slowing him down when he was in that kind of mood.
Now, the argument against Wembanyama being a top-five player would be that we don’t see him dominate on the offensive end consistently. For the season, he is averaging 24.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 2.7 blocks per game for the Spurs.
Wembanyama hadn’t hit the 30-point mark in his last nine games coming into this Lakers clash. He is very good offensively, but there is room for improvement.
We had actually seen the Lakers limit Wembanyama’s impact on offense on the two previous occasions they faced him. He had 19 points when the teams first met and 16 the second time.
So, it’s perhaps debatable whether Wembanyama is a top-five player right now. It’s only a matter of time, however, before he becomes the consensus best player in the NBA. If you ask Wembanyama, though, he’ll tell you he is already the best in the business. Just like all the greats, he has supreme confidence in his abilities.
Wembanyama helped the Spurs improve to 37-16 on the season with this win. They’ll take on the Golden State Warriors next at Chase Center on Wednesday at 10 PM ET.
As for the Lakers, they have dropped to 32-21 and will face the Dallas Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday at 10 PM ET.
