Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone called Victor Wembanyama “the way forward for the NBA” after defeating the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday, however the praise nearly did not go far sufficient. He went toe-to-toe with Nikola Jokic, whom most would think about the “current” of the NBA, and really almost got here out on high with yet one more historic stat line.
Wembanyama completed the sport with 23 factors, 15 rebounds, 9 blocks and eight assists. Had Michael Porter Jr. missed the 3-pointer with 27.1 seconds remaining that in the end gained the sport for Denver, the Nuggets and Spurs could have gone to extra time and given Wembanyama 5 extra minutes to chase the elusive quadruple-double. There have been solely 4 of them on document in NBA historical past (although in equity, blocks weren’t recorded till after Invoice Russell and Wilt Chamberlain retired), and the final got here 30 years in the past when David Robinson did so in 1994. It ought to go with out saying that no rookie has ever achieved a quadruple-double.
Alas, Wembanyama did not get the additional time that he wanted, and so the presumptive Rookie of the 12 months fell simply in need of one of many NBA’s best statistical achievements. As a substitute, he needed to accept changing into the primary participant in league historical past to complete a sport with at the least 20 factors, 15 rebounds, eight blocks and eight assists.
Wembanyama has made a behavior of posting statistical anomalies. He already has one in every of solely 22 five-by-five video games in league historical past. On Feb. 29 he turned the one participant ever to earn seven assists, 5 blocks and 5 3-pointers. A March 17 sport towards the Nets made him simply the fourth participant ever to succeed in 33 factors, 15 rebounds, seven blocks and 7 assists. The record goes on and on and on. It is solely going to get longer.
That’s what Malone meant when he mentioned that Wembanyama is the league’s future. If he is doing all of this now, as a rookie, it stands to purpose that the numbers are solely going to get crazier with time. In spite of everything, he is seen an analogous development up shut with Jokic, who outdueled Wembanyama Tuesday with 42 factors, 16 rebounds and 6 assists of his personal.
However as soon as a participant begins posting traces by no means earlier than seen in historical past as persistently as Wembanyama already is, the tense of his greatness ought to by no means be shifted to the long run. Wembanyama is among the NBA’s greatest gamers right here and now. On Tuesday, he very almost led his Spurs to a street win over the defending champions with out arguably his two greatest teammates, Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan. If he weren’t taking part in with such a younger and injured roster, he would possibly already be able to compete with Jokic at this stage on the postseason stage.
The Spurs aren’t there but. Wembanyama is. So Malone had higher get pleasure from his current with Jokic, as a result of as soon as San Antonio catches up with its stellar rookie, the long run actually will belong to him.
