Victor Wembanyama Has Unlocked a New Level After All-Star Break

Highlights

• Wembanyama’s stats post-All-Star are off the charts – 21.3 PPG, 11.5 RPG, 4.8 APG, 3.3 SPG, 4.8 BPG.
• His historic 5×5 game made Wembanyama the youngest – and 15th player in NBA history – to achieve this feat.
• Victor Wembanyama projects as a future NBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and face of the league.

Unreal, out-of-this-world, alien, extraterrestrial — these are just some of the adjectives people have used to describe San Antonio Spurs prized rookie Victor Wembanyama. Even though the Spurs have been one of the worst teams in the league, the young French star continues to put a stranglehold on the 2023-24 Rookie of the Year race with his phenomenal individual performances.

Wembanyama has been the lone bright spot for a San Antonio team that has been one of the worst teams in the NBA all season long. Nonetheless, that light is dazzling more than ever since returning from the All-Star Weekend, where he participated in the Rising Stars Game. With the way he’s been playing as of late, he should have been named in the main game on Sunday as well.

Wembanyama is posting historical stat lines

The rookie is playing at a different level since the All-Star break

Victor Wembanyama is already no stranger to putting up gaudy stat lines. He just had the rare triple-double with blocks before the break, when he recorded 27 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 blocks in San Antonio’s dominant win over the Toronto Raptors on February 12th.

But over his last four outings since the All-Star Weekend, Wembanyama has been putting up even more insane numbers. He’s been doing everything: scoring, rebounding, playmaking, being disruptive on defense, and, of course, swatting away shots left and right.

Wembanyama teased a 5-by-5 in his first game back from the All-Star break, coming up just one dime short of the rare accomplishment, which was last done in 2019. He broke that drought the very next night when he achieved the extraordinary feat against no less than LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers.

After witnessing Wemby’s greatness for the first time, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer had nothing but praise for the up-and-coming Spurs superstar.

Wemby has cooled off a bit since the Lakers game. But is it really cooling off when he still casually puts up double-doubles with a full stat line that includes nine blocks over the last two contests? He’s especially been a menace on the defensive end. Wembanyama has turned away more shots than half of the 30 teams around the league.

Each week, Wembanyama seems to be filing either stat lines or highlights under the “Things we haven’t seen before” folder. Though he struggled shooting (5-of-13 FG) against the Minnesota Timberwolves, he had another viral moment where he torched Kyle Anderson on this isolation play.

7-foot-4 human beings aren’t supposed to be doing these things. The kid is just operating on a different level at this point of the season and his confidence is only going to keep growing by the end of his rookie campaign.

Will Victor Wembanyama be on a GOAT trajectory?

The kid is the future face of the NBA

Wemby’s historic 5-by-5 performance against the Lakers will go down as one of the signature games of his rookie campaign. With that performance, he became the youngest player ever to record a 5-by-5 and the 15th to do so in league history.

He joined none other than Michael Jordan as the only player to notch five steals and five blocks in consecutive games.

It’s certainly way too premature to talk about Wembanyama’s place in NBA history. But with what he has accomplished so far, already being in the same breath as Jordan and James in some notable feats, it’s tempting not to have those discussions, especially since he still has a whole career ahead of him.

What’s more likable about Wemby is his mindset and character. He didn’t get too high on joining Jordan in that exclusive club. Instead, he would have preferred getting a win than achieving the individual accolade.

“To me, [individual stats] is secondary. In the future we can look back and think that this is a good performance. As of today, I can’t be satisfied with a loss”-Wembanyama after his 5×5 game

Of course, the 20-year-old still has ways to go to even be considered an all-time great. Likewise, he still needs to figure out how to win in the NBA. But granted that he stays healthy, it’s easy to envision Wembanyama as a future MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and eventually take over as the face of the league for over the next decade.

He is already one of the most imposing defensive forces in the NBA. Over his last four games, he has also become a more well-rounded offensive player and a smarter playmaker.

Wemby’s post-All-Star break performances are just snippets of the repertoire he is capable of doing for many years to come. And the scariest thing about it, Victor Wembanyama isn’t even close to scratching the surface.