The return of the NBA implies the return of the league’s stars. Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Steph Curry, Anthony Edwards and, why not, Victor Wembanyama. The Frenchman, at 20 years old, is already on the exclusive list of players to follow with a magnifying glass every game, special players who on any given night can surprise with numbers, performance or a spectacular play. Or for everything at the same time, because the reality with the French alien is unimaginable. Are you ready for the spotlight?
Victor Wembanyama begins his second season and expectations are even higher than a year ago. Now we have seen what he is capable of, dominating the Olympic Games in a final against the United States and he already knows the league inside out. It’s only a matter of time before Wemby becomes the star the whole world is waiting for. After averaging 21.4 points with 10.6 rebounds per night, and led the NBA with 3.9 blocks in his first year, The giant was a finalist for best defender, only behind his compatriot Rudy Gobert, in addition to appearing in the rookie defensive quintet and taking the award for best rookie. No surprises. But now it’s time to evolve, to take the next level. And they have brought him a toy to have fun.
The arrival of Chris Paul solves many of the problems that the Spurs had in attack. The most important, as simple as not knowing how to give the ball to Wemby in advantageous situations, something that the 38-year-old point guard plans to solve. For now they have already worked together at the franchise facilities and the former Warriors player is full of praise: “He works harder than anyone else. His ability to shoot, dribble, defend or do everything, takes time to get used to. We are working on that” said the point guard. His presence, just by attraction, will already make Wemby’s life easier and will bring him closer to achieving more individual awards.
“I like trophies, individual or collective, but I want the ones I have now to be the bricks that build the foundations of something much better in the future,” he explained at the San Antonio Media Day. “A brick is not much, but if you accumulate them, you can build a palace,” he insisted. And a brick can be, for example, named All Star, something that is expected in January; or sneak into the All NBA quintets, among the 15 best players in the league. It will be more complicated to return the Spurs to the playoffs. Talks about the MVP? For that, San Antonio needs to win a lot, and it is still far from that level. The goal is to learn.
“A successful year would be a season where we don’t waste time making the same mistakes as last year and apply the improvements directly,” said Wembanyama, a direct jab at Gregg Popovich. The legendary trainer tried Sochan as a base before deciding to use a truth generator in the one position; Now, with Chris Paul, there are no inventions. “I think it will go well, everyone was working hard, and I think it will pay off.” They begin to be collected this morning.
