The San Antonio Spurs look well-equipped to retake their position as one of the perennial powerhouses in the Western Conference after a 60-win season and a Conference Finals appearance in Victor Wembanyama’s third season with the franchise. They’re extremely ahead of schedule and could win an NBA Championship as early as this season, a terrifying thought for everyone, given the Spurs also have one of the best collections of young talent in the NBA.
Wembanyama, in particular, has lived up to his pre-Draft hype as a generational talent. The 22-year-old center just averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 3.1 blocks over the regular season, becoming the first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year winner while also being a finalist for MVP. If he can lead the Spurs to a championship this season, Wembanyama might start a new era of dominance years ahead of schedule.
An anonymous Western Conference executive discussed Wembanyama’s trajectory in the NBA to The Athletic, warning everyone that we’re about to enter an era of dominance last seen with Shaquille O’Neal. The executive went even further to say that at least O’Neal could be stopped with certain strategies, whereas Wembanyama might truly be unstoppable.
“He’s a problem from inside the halfcourt, and there’s just no one like that. At least Shaq was human in the sense that you needed three centers to bang with him. You’ve got 18 fouls (to work with). Maybe one was skilled, and the other two could hold him up while the other guys get rest. But there’s no archetype like (Wembanyama) — no player ever. It’s a problem, and it’s going to be a problem for 15 years.”
Victor Wembanyama is averaging 22.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 4.0 blocks in the 2026 NBA Playoffs, leading the Spurs to a 1-1 tied series against the OKC Thunder so far. Wembanyama set the NBA’s postseason blocks record during this postseason and is seven wins away from hoisting his first NBA Championship at age 22. The Spurs didn’t even make any aggressive win-now moves to make this happen, outside of acquiring De’Aaron Fox last season.
Shaquille O’Neal is arguably one of the most dominant centers the NBA has ever seen. He averaged 27.0 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.5 blocks during eight years with the Lakers, which was the prime of his career. While he only won one regular-season MVP, O’Neal won three consecutive Finals MVPs for leading the Lakers to three championships from 2000 to 2002. O’Neal averaged 27.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.4 blocks over these three years, widely considered his absolute peak.
Victor Wembanyama might take a few seasons to replicate the raw production O’Neal had, as he’s concerned himself with being a more all-around player than O’Neal was. He can play on the perimeter and is already a far more productive defensive player than O’Neal ever was. While he doesn’t have the raw strength that made O’Neal unguardable in the post, Wembanyama’s skill set makes him basically unguardable on the entire court because no player can actually cleanly contest his shots one-on-one.
Victor Wembanyama was compared to LeBron James before the draft in terms of the prospect that he is, and if he keeps this pace up, it seems he will genuinely live up to those comparisons and potentially become a credible candidate in the GOAT debate.
