The public was delivered. Tickets had sold out. The cameras followed him. The mobiles recorded him. The spectators did not miss a detail. The Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas (Nevada), with capacity for nearly 20,000 attendees, witnessed yesterday the debut of the great promise of the future of the NBA, the Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, with the San Antonio Spurs. The new star of the Texan team left hints of his quality, but also showed some of his limitations. “Next time I’ll do better,” he said at the end of the game.
Except for the expectation, it did not seem like the first game of someone called to make history. It was a game of the NBA summer league, a kind of preseason in which most teams do not have their big stars and in which rare players are given the opportunity. Facing one of the worst teams in the championship, the Charlotte Hornets, the setting seemed right for the Frenchman to leave his calling card. But either he had a bad day, or he needs to adjust, or both. Next time he will do better.
There has probably never been a player taller than 2.20 meters with the agility and ball handling that Wembanyama has. The public exclaimed in admiration to see the very tall and very thin center dribble the ball between his legs, do a reverse, dribble past an opponent or put a block. The murmurs multiplied as soon as he intervened.
The truth, however, is that almost everything he threw started failing. He did not manage to score until his fourth attempt and he did not convert a field goal again in the first half of the game, which he closed with a basket of seven attempts, plus 3 free throws, these with 100% effectiveness. In total 5 points at halftime.
In the third quarter he went blank, he didn’t even shoot a basket. And in the last one he launched two triples that did not even touch the rim and missed another shot, before finally scoring a three-pointer in which he also had an additional shot, to the delirium of the public, eager to meet their expectations. Then the French continued to miss. And, even so, monopolizing the leading role.
The number 1 of the 2023 draft has also chosen 1 as the number on his jersey. He wants to be the best, he openly admits it, but this Friday he was not. It will never be with a success rate below 20%. At the end of the game he was the fifth scorer on his team, with 9 points and only 2 of 13 shots from the field, and the ninth of the game. He had 8 rebounds, put in 5 blocks (his height intimidates him) and had three assists.
Opposite played the number 2 of the draft, Brandon Miller, with the Charlotte Hornets, added 14 points and 10 rebounds and probably had a better game than the Frenchman. And the play of the night in Las Vegas was starred by Jabari Smith, the number 3 of the draft last year, by hitting a decisive triple for the Houston Rockets (100-99) in the last breath of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers. They only had 0.6 seconds and they put the ball into play from their field. With that, Jabari Smith completed a 33-point performance. Even so, Wembanyama outshone everyone with his mere presence.
Apparently this Friday, Wembanyama needs to improve his aim. Also, to face the most powerful players in the NBA he will have to gain muscle and weight. He is a star project and no one has the raw material for him, but today he seems far from being able to guide the Spurs to victory against the best teams in the competition. This Friday the San Antonio team beat the lazy Hornets (76-68) in a very poor game, but not thanks to Wembanyama, of course.
And in case little was said about the French center as a result of his arrival in American professional basketball, the player has been involved this week in a silly controversy with the singer Britney Spears, who tried to approach him when he arrived at a restaurant and ended up taking a bodyguards slap to push her away. Wembanyama didn’t find out until the next morning that she was Britney Spears, the unexpected helper in the most anticipated NBA opening week in a long time.
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