Phenom Victor Wembanyama, who has been in the spotlight since being selected first overall in the last draft by the San Antonio Spurs, made his NBA debut on Wednesday night in his team’s 126-119 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Frenchman showed several times why he is considered a unique talent, especially when he made a block on Mavs star Kyrie Irving in the first moments of the clash.
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However, the French native of Chesnay-Rocquencourt was alone in trouble throughout the meeting. He committed several fouls, including one right at the start of the fourth quarter, prompting his head coach Gregg Popovich to keep him on the bench to avoid an ejection.
“Maybe I wanted to do too well, I didn’t put my energy into the right things,” the 19-year-old athlete said at a post-game press conference. I don’t have to put so much energy into defense. I’m studying for a first game. These are simple things.”
This didn’t help him either, his teammates sometimes seemed to forget his presence on the field, especially at the very end of the game when his team tried to move forward from the back.
“I wasn’t frustrated about it,” he said. Like I said, it’s a learning process. This is our first game of the regular season. We will watch the video, we will learn. We will watch the film and the players and coaches will do everything they can to get better.”
Duncan tunes
It wasn’t until the final quarter of the game that the prodigy seemed to find his way. With less than seven minutes left, the 7-foot giant completed an alley-oop pass from Devin Vassell before hitting a three-pointer 50 seconds later.
The crowd at Frost Bank Center erupted when he dunked and drew a foul to put the Spurs ahead by a tiny point with 4:56 left. “Wemby” scored nine points within three minutes.
Often compared to Tim Duncan as the organization’s next big star, Wembanyama finished his first-ever NBA game with 15 points, 6-for-9 shooting and two assists. But guess who also posted identical stats in their first appearance. Tim Duncan.
It is often said that the past is a guarantee of the future. If Wembanyama has a similar career to Duncan, we can just say that San Antonio fans will see more good times than bad in the next decade.