Andrew LopezESPNOct 26, 2023, 12:34 am ET4 Minute Read
Wemby rallied late and scored 15 points in his NBA debut
Despite early foul trouble, Victor Wembanyama finished strongly in his NBA debut with 15 points, including nine in the fourth quarter.
SAN ANTONIO – As Victor Wembanyama stepped onto the court at the Frost Bank Center during pregame warmups for his regular-season NBA debut, he spread his arms across the tunnel to high-five fans on either side before entered the court.
Wembanyama’s performance was marred by foul trouble, but he put on quite a show for the sellout crowd of 18,947 in the fourth quarter before the Dallas Mavericks pulled away from Wembanyama’s Spurs with a 126-119 win.
“Certainly a lot of emotions,” said Wembanyama after the game, “but with a win it would have been perfect.”
Wembanyama said it was “surreal” to see the number of fans in the building before the opening tip-off and he got things on track.
On the Spurs’ first defensive possession, Wembanyama made a block on Dallas’ Kyrie Irving. But as the game progressed, Wembanyama struggled with foul trouble throughout the night.
He suffered his second foul with 43.5 seconds left in the first quarter and only played 5 minutes and 33 seconds in the second quarter. In the third period, Wembanyama picked up two fouls in the first 3:23 after halftime and sat for the rest of the quarter.
Returning for the fourth quarter, he quickly found his way back to the bench after just 26 seconds when he picked up his fifth foul for catching a drive inside from Luka Doncic.
Wembanyama came back into the game with 7:12 left and immediately made his presence felt when he intercepted a lob from teammate Devin Vassell. He scored nine goals in the quarter, but it wasn’t enough as both Irving and Doncic scored three points to secure the win.
“One of the hardest things for a player to do is get into foul trouble,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “You never get into a rhythm, you’re always in the game and stuff like that. I thought his maturity showed at a young age when he came in in the last seven minutes and just played.”
“We did a few things for him, he executed where a lot of guys would have been completely out of control at that point because, like you said, they were in foul trouble and couldn’t find the rhythm. I thought he had a wonderful performance considering that.” That.”
Wembanyama played 23 minutes and finished with 15 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block on 6 of 9 shooting, including 3 of 5 from deep.
Despite the foul trouble, he said he tried to do his best to stay positive down the stretch.
“It may be frustrating, but always keeping my head up is good for my teammates,” Wembanyama said. “I can’t show it on the pitch and we’re learning every day.”
Vassell, who led the Spurs with 23 points, said he expects big things from Wembanyama when he returns to the floor on Friday when San Antonio hosts the Houston Rockets. But he also said this was still a learning experience for the rest of the squad.
“We’re all in the process of understanding each other,” Vassell said. “We are all in the process of understanding Wemby. He recognizes us. We just need to figure out how to play as a team and make sure the game is easy for him and he doesn’t have to do as much as he needs to.” Do iso situations and just give him simple lobs and simple looks, um to get him going.
“He demands so much attention. If they double-team him, we have to be able to make certain plays out of it.”
Doncic, who finished the game with 33 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, said he enjoyed facing Wembanyama in his debut game.
“It was fun,” Doncic said. “We knew the whole building was going to be loud and everything. That’s probably one of the best prospects to get into the NBA, so it was fun. Personally, I like a challenge, so this was a fun challenge.”
Doncic and Irving combined to score 20 of the Mavericks’ 30 goals in the fourth quarter to secure the win. Irving finished the game with 22 points and six assists.
After the game, Doncic had high praise for Spurs’ new signing and said Wembanyama would be “incredible.”
“He obviously has the size, obviously the way everyone talks, but the way he moves for 7-5, 7-6 – I don’t know what it is, I’m sorry – but he moves unbelievably,” Doncic said. “He moves almost like a point guard. So it’s pretty amazing to see him. He’s going to have a great future and he’s going to be great to watch.”