We have never seen a player quite like Victor Wembanyama. The 20 year old Center is a 7 foot 4 Center who has the handle, movement skills and jump shot of a guard. The possibilities of his potential seem limitless at times, and even though his rookie season has come without much team success, it has become apparent he is going to be one of the best players in the league very soon. It seems every game is filled with a new mind-blowing highlight. Whether it be one legged running three pointers, pull up mid range jumpers, making 7 footers look miniature, or even the putback dunk he had on his own three point attempt, every night seems to be something new. These plays make it hard not to get excited about what kind of player he can become in his prime, but just how good is Victor Wembanyama already?
Statistical Phenom
Wemby averages an impressive 20.7 PPG on 46.7 FG% and 33.3 3PT%. He also averages 10.3 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.3 SPG, and a league leading 3.4 BPG all in just 28.8 minutes per game. Only 20 other rookies in NBA history have ever averaged at least 20 PPG and 10 RPG, being the first to do it since 2010 when Blake Griffin averaged 22.5 and 12.1 in 38 minutes per game, 10 more minutes than Wemby averages this season. The rest of the list is filled with some of the greatest big men of all time including Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilt Chamberlain. If you include Wembanyama’s 3+ BPG, he is one of just 4 rookies to ever have these averages, Shaq, David Robinson, and Alonzo Mourning being the other three. It is important to note that blocks were not officially counted in the NBA until the 1973-74 season, notably after the rookie seasons of Kareem and Wilt, who most likely would have had met the threshold. Wembanyama is having a rookie season that will go down in the history books, but how does his rookie year stack up against other Hall of Fame Big Men?
Wembanyama’s rookie season statistics are incredible and almost hold up to some of the greatest rookie seasons of all time. One major difference between Wemby and these other great players is how many minutes Wemby plays. Gregg Popovich, one of the greatest coaches ever, seems to be primarily focused on growing Wemby’s game this season. With future development as the main objective, Wemby only plays a little more than half the game, as running him into the ground and risking injury, especially for a player of Wemby’s stature, during a season the Spurs are not going to be making the playoffs makes little sense. On the other hand, many of the great players of the NBA’s past, played almost the entire game, so I thought it would be a good test to see how Wemby's stats would compare if they were all given the same chance. The average number of minutes for a starter is 36, so these would be each player's stats if they all played 36 minutes per game.
As we can see, Wemby's numbers now compare favorably to each of these Hall of Fame big men's rookie seasons, other than Wilt Chamberlain, and Wilt owns just about every NBA record, so this is expected. Him coming close to these players stats and surpassing many of them when given similar minutes played is wildly impressive, especially considering their ages. Most of these players came into the league after three or four years of college, or in David Robinson's case after graduating from the Naval Academy and serving two years of active duty. Wemby is notoriously only 209 pounds and while he will need to bulk up and gain some weight, he is just 20 years old and did not have the advantage of coming into the NBA as a grown man, as many of these other players did. Wemby's statistics show he is one of the better rookies of all time, and if he was given the same chance other players got, this might have been one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time.
How Great can Wemby be?
The statistics of Victor Wembanyama's rookie season are astonishing but, even more spectacular is the way he gets them. He can truly make any play on the court. Whether it be a step back 3 pointer, easily grabbing rebounds over the tallest players in the league, or making a chase down LeBron type block, there is no limit to the plays he can make. All this, and he is still vastly improving each night. You can see him try to fix his mistakes during games and try to make better decisions each time down the floor. He is already likely a top 25 player in the league, and the rest of the NBA should be somewhat terrified of the possibilities of a prime Wemby. A player that can dribble the ball down the court with ease, pull up from anywhere, while also towering over everyone else is someone who will probably be the best player in the league. If Victor Wembanyama continues to improve, as he has during his rookie season, that is exactly what he will be, the best player in the league, the face of the NBA, and a potential top 5 player of all time.
Images by USA Today Sports Mark J. Rebilas. Statistics via basketball-reference.com
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