I won’t blame you if your jaw hit the floor watchingVictor Wembanyama score his 41 pointsin the thrilling Game 1 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 30-foot, Steph-esque 3-pointer in overtime. The mind-melting dunks all over OKC’s defense. Pure cinema.
Feel free to shake your head at the fact that he pulled down 24 rebounds, which was more than the entire OKC starting lineup. Add in that he swatted away three OKC offerings and held the Thunder to 35.7% shootingon twoswhile he was on the floor. That’s all great.
But the craziest number of all is 22 — the number of years that Wembanyama has been alive.
“Best player in the f***ing world,” his teammate Stephon Castle said after the game.
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To be clear, that was a reminder, not an announcement. I understand why folks have been reluctant to crown Wembanyama as The Best Player In The F’ing World because we’ve been conditioned to wait until it feels safer. Wait until they hit their prime. Wait until their team has won the championship. Wait until … well, they’re older than 22 f***ing years old.
But as a basketball species, Wemby is different, hence the alien moniker. He’s taller than everybody, yes, but the true differentiator is that he’s processing the game quicker than anyone. I noticed his processing power two years ago when I wrote that he was on theGOAT path. I doubled down this season when I predicted in October that he’d win MVPthis season(he qualified under the 65-game rule, but I don’t think he played enough minutes to convince voters).
So as someone who has been touting Wemby perhaps earlier than most (too early at times!), let me say this: Monday’s Game 1 supernova didn’t establish him as the best player in the galaxy. Because healreadysnatched that mystical accolade weeks ago from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokić or whichever name you throw into that pile.
We can look at the measurables, which have been admittedly warped downward by Wembanyama’s unexpected absences. The Game 2 concussion against Portland and Game 4 ejection against Minnesota threw a wet blanket on his per-game averages because he only played a handful of minutes in those games.
But rest assured, when Wembanyama was on the floor, he was putting upnumbers. Wembanyama was averaging 25.4 points, 13.9 rebounds and 5.2 blocks per 36 minutes headingintoMonday’s Game 1, hinting that a monster 41-23-3-3 outing was within reach. But judging by his more pedestrian 20.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 4.1 blocks (OK, that last one isn’t pedestrian), you might not have guessed that Wemby made another leap.