Young French superstar Victor Wembanyama has already developed his first NBA rivalry. According to NBA insider Michael C. Wright, Victor Wembanyama has strong feelings toward Chet Holmgren and apparently even refuses to say his name out of some deep-rooted rivalry.
“Victor will not even say [Chet Holmgren’s] name. That’s pretty much been the theme since he arrived in San Antonio,” said Wright on NBA Today. “On Monday night, we specifically asked Victor Wembanyama about the matchup with Chet Homgren and this is what he said: ‘I’m excited to get back to winning ways. It’s always a good challenge to play Oklahoma City and I watched every one of their games.’ He does not mention the guy’s name and I think it’s been because there is a real rivalry here. They respect each other but they do not like each other.”
Victor Wembanayama and Chet Holmgren have no personal beef but as two young bigs with similar playstyles, it’s no surprise they are constantly in competition with each other. This, combined with their differing personalities, have created a budding rivalry of sorts that began with last year’s Rookie of the Year race.
The ROY campaign was a tough battle between Wembanyama and Holmgren all season long. Victor, who was drawing comparisons to Kevin Durant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before the draft, came in as the overwhelming favorite and he did eventually win the award with averages of 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, and a league-high 3.6 blocks per game on 46.5% shooting.
But Holmgren wasn’t too far behind with season averages of 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game on 53.0% shooting. Unlike Wembanyama, Chet was on a Thunder team that was competitive in the West and was crucial in their run to the West Semi-Finals.
Going into this year, nobody knew what to expect from these players and their respective teams but tonight they’ll get their first look at each other since last season and things are sure to get intense in the frontcourt. At 1-3 so far, the Spurs are already on the wrong side of the loss column and it will take a nearly flawless performance tonight to get the win against an undefeated Thunder squad.
Unfortunately for Wemby, no matter how much he may dislike Holmgren, he and his Thunder team are simply outperforming the field this season. Holmgren is up to 23.7 points per game this season along with 13.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks on 56.3% shooting. He and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have developed amazing chemistry.
Meanwhile, Victor is still looking for answers on the Spurs and even after their latest win, the signs are not looking good for a competitive season. If Wembanyama really wants to beat his rival and live up to the hype as a top NBA prospect, he’ll have to put the pettiness aside and focus on delivering wins for his team.
With so much youth and not a lot of depth, Victor is facing overwhelming odds with this current Spurs group. Still, there is hope that the best is yet to come and that with more time and maneuvering from the front office, Victor can be put in a position to redeem these struggles and prove himself as an NBA elite for years to come.
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