As the 2023-24 season comes to a close, Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is on the short list of candidates for Rookie of the Year. But even as the debates begin to heat up across the league, Wembanyama says that he still has a long way to go before he’s at the level of some of his peers.
“To me, the great players, especially today, when you see Embiid, Shai, Giannis,… They don’t score 30 points, and then 15 and then 20. They score 30 every night,” Wemby said in his post-game press conference. “Success in this league is performing during the 82 games, you must have it at every game. They aren’t satisfied of performing only a few times. I’d like to follow their example. Also, I don’t even ask myself the question if this race is over or not, because I want to win games and we have 22 remaining. So I have to keep performing.”
After an impressive win over the Oklahoma City Thunder this week, Wembanyama was the talk of the league and many were impressed with the progress he’s already shown. Victor has passed every test so far and continues to prove that he can be a future face of the NBA — both on and off the court. On Thursday, he scored 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists in the game along with impressive 5 blocks. For the season, Wemby is easily the NBA’s leading rookie with averages of 20.7 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game on 46.7% shooting.
Unfortunately, the Spurs just haven’t been good enough for Victor to get any credit for his success and until they start to show some signs of improvement, it will limit how far up the ladder Wembanyama can go.
A Rocky Start For Victor Wembanyama
When he was drafted by the Spurs this past summer, it was celebrated as a move favorable for the rookie. As a franchise with a rich history of success, the thinking was that San Antonio, under Gregg Popovich, would be the best place for Victor to maximize his talent.
Instead, the Spurs have been one of the worst teams from day one. At 12-48 on the season, the Spurs are the worst team in the Western Conference by five games and only 1.5 games back from the Wizards for being the worst team in the league.
For his part, Victor is doing everything he can to stop the bleeding but it just hasn’t been enough and it’s been wearing on the young superstar.
Meanwhile, Victor has no choice but to sit back and watch as his biggest rival right now (Chet Holmgren) thrives on a team that’s 2nd place in the West. So while Victor may have a lock on Rookie of the Year, he’d much rather be in Chet’s place right now, contributing to a team in a position to win it all this spring.
This summer, if the Spurs follow through on some of their more ambitious off-season plans, we could see Victor finally get the help he’s been waiting for… and it could spell disaster for the rest of the Western Conference.
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