There Has To Be Some Dark Magic At Work After Victor Wembanyama Had The Exact Same Debut As Spurs Legend Tim Duncan
At long last, we finally got to see Victor Wembanyama in an NBA game that counted. No more fake Summer League games against guys who weren't even going to play in the league, no more fake preseason games where guys aren't really going full speed, finally we get so see how he stacked up against the real deal.
The answer? Pretty fucking good!
Wemby was relatively quiet/dealt with foul trouble most of the night until the 4th quarter when he nearly carried the Spurs to the win all by himself.
Frankly, they should have given him way more touches down the stretch and way less Keon Johnson, but whatever. Even in a loss I think most people walked away impressed with these young rebuilding Spurs. They gave Luka and the Mavs all they could handle before Luka said enough was enough
But back to Wembanyama for a second. His performance alone was enough to have Spurs fans over the moon about their new generational talent, but would you believe it gets even better? If that performance felt familiar for Spurs fans, it's because they've seen it before
What the hell. Seriously, how do the Spurs keep getting away with this? They tank at the perfect time and are repeatedly rewarded, first with David Robinson, then with Tim Duncan, and now with Wemby. If that wasn't enough, now Wemby is having a Tim Duncan-esq debut while looking very awesome right away? Something's up. It has to be. What are the odds that Wemby puts up the exact same line as Duncan in his first ever official pro game? I'm not a math guy but I feel like it has to be 1 in 10 billion. I had to go back and look at the final score of Duncan's debut back in 1997, and it was a 107-96 Spurs win so at least that wasn't the same, or else I'd be really freaked out.
Does this mean Wembanyama is destined for a Tim Duncan career? Logic says probably not, but at the same time how do we know? So far he's 1 for 1 in matching Duncan. We have more evidence that he is compared to the amount of evidence that might suggest he isn't. Plus, what's the point of having a generational talent on your favorite team if you aren't going to drastically overreact to whatever he does? That's part of the fun!
I've always felt that LeBron was the greatest example we had of players living up to their insane hype before entering the league, but the more I watch Wemby play the more I think he's going to be right there. Every time we see him he confirms why there was so much hype around him, and you have to remember this is the worst he's ever going to look. Just think about that for a second.
So congratulations Spurs fans, I've seen enough. You have another Tim Duncan on your hands only he's just as skilled as a guard as well. I don't even know how that's possible yet there's no denying it at this point. These next 10+ years should be pretty fun.