Victor Wembanyama Will Ascend To The NBA’s Best Player

Victor Wembanyama

has captured the eyes and imaginations of basketball fans everywhere. The French phenom entered the

NBA

with plenty of hype and expectations thrust upon him from the get-go. Wembanyama was easily the most anticipated prospect to enter the league since

LeBron James

.

After his rookie season, it feels like the hype was deserved and then some. Wembanyama looked ridiculously good for a rookie. One could make the argument that he has already positioned himself as a top 20 player in the league.

With such an exciting start to his career, it is hard not to try and look ahead to the promise that Wembanyama’s career holds. Not only does it feel like it is only a matter of time before Wembanyama dominates the league, but there are legitimate expectations of him being an all-time great player.

Trying to pinpoint when Wembanyama officially climbs to the mountaintop of the league’s best players is a conversation of when, not if. The 2024-25 season will be a highly-anticipated one and part of the reason is the expected ascent of the

San Antonio Spurs

star.

Wembanyama’s Rookie Season

There are plenty of positive takeaways from the 2023-24 campaign

Wembanyama winning the Rookie of the Year award in the 2023-24 season was a formality by the end of the year. Despite some strong seasons from the likes of

Chet Holmgren

and

Brandon Miller

, this race was never really that close and that has everything to do with how great Wembanyama was.

The immediate standout from Wembanyama’s rookie season will surely be the defense. Wembanyama’s length and nimble movement were a big part of the reason that everyone was excited about him as a prospect. When he arrived in the NBA, that translated to an immediate defensive impact.

Wembanyama led the league in blocks during his rookie season. He averaged 3.6 blocks per game, securing his title as the blocks champion by a metric mile. The next closest players on the list were

Walker Kessler

and

Brook Lopez

, both of whom averaged 2.4.

These were not just empty stats either. The Spurs looked a lot better on the defensive end of the basketball court with Wembanyama. Quite frankly, they were a hot mess when he was not out there.

His incredible season placed him second in voting to

Rudy Gobert

for the Defensive Player of the Year award.

No rookie has ever won the Defensive Player of the Year award. Wembanyama may not have been the first, but he should have ample opportunity to rack up that award moving forward.

Offensively, if it felt like Wembanyama was getting better throughout the year, it is because he was. One could argue he did not need to wait for his sophomore leap to make substantial improvements, because it was seen during his rookie year.

Looking at the offensive production from his rookie season, one can clearly identify January as a clear jumping-off point for Wembanyama. His scoring reliably surpassed 20 points per game and there was no turning back for the young star.

The underrated part of the equation would be the improvements seen in Wembanyama’s passing as well. Overall, things were really coming together for him on the offensive end during the second half of his rookie season. That should be a scary thought for all the competitors around the league.

Wembanyama’s Sophomore Season

Expectations remain at an all-time high for Wembanyama

One of the most impressive rookie to sophomore leaps that has been seen in recent years was that of

Dallas Mavericks

superstar

Luka Dončić

. Dončić ascended the ranks from an impressive rookie to a superstar who was worthy of All-NBA First Team honors.

On top of the growth already displayed by Wembanyama, one of the other reasons for basketball fans to believe that he could be in store for a similar ascent is the solid job that the Spurs have done with bringing in supporting talent. There is one player who stands above the rest of their offseason additions.

It is no secret that

Chris Paul

is on the decline. The Point God is thirty-nine and will be one of the oldest players in the league next season. However, he is still more than capable of helping guide Wembanyama to a breakout season.

One of the Spurs’ biggest weaknesses last year was the lack of depth at the point guard position. In particular, they really needed a guy who was capable of consistently setting up Wembanyama in positions to score. Paul could be that guy.

Paul is obviously not a long-term answer for the position. In the short-term, though, he can ensure Wembanyama a sophomore season where one should expect him to be scoring anywhere from 25 to 28 points per game.

That offensive consistency coupled with his already elite defense should have Wembanyama poised for his first All-Star game and knocking on the door of the ten best players in the league next year.

Wembanyama’s Path To Being The Best

The crown will be his, sooner rather than later

Wembanyama’s seat at the head of the table should be awaiting him over the next few years. Gregg Popovich and the Spurs will likely do everything in their power to ensure that.

The hype around Wembanyama has been compared to LeBron, time and time again. In this case, James may be a good measuring stick for when fans can expect Wembanyama to be the best the league has to offer.

Some will argue that James was the best player in the league by the time of the 2007 playoff run where he dragged an underwhelming

Cleveland Cavaliers

team to the NBA Finals. Others do not bestow that crown on him until his first or second season with the

Miami Heat

.

LeBron’s 2008-09 season, which resulted in his first MVP, is probably a safe middle ground for when it actually happened. That was James’ sixth season in the league.

If Wembanyama is truly the generational talent that most believe him to be, that feels like a safe measurement of time for when he will be there. His fourth year in the league is probably when it will become time to truly pay attention to where he stands among the game’s best.

As far as waiting games go, this feeling of inevitability promises results sooner rather than later.

Stats are courtesy of Basketball Reference.

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