The Nikola Jokic vs Victor Wembanyama Pre-Olympics Showdown Today Was Absolute Cinema

While we wait for the Olympics to officially get underway, the Men's Basketball tune up games are a great way of scratching that basketball itch. Watching Team USA vs Team Canada the other night was great even with the US not even playing all that well, and today's tune up action gave us a matchup that I think every basketball fan loves to watch

Nikola Jokic and Serbia vs Wemby and France

Two of the most dominant bigs on the planet going head-to-head will always be must-watch stuff, even in these fake games. As you can see, the matchup certainly did not disappoint

The very first thing that stood out to me in this game was it took my brain forever to find Nikola Jokic. Look at how skinny he is! I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment, but this has to be the most in shape he's looked on a basketball court right? Whatever the hell he's been doing back home in the offseason is working, and now that the Nuggets for some reason are choosing to make Jokic's basketball life even harder by letting all his good teammates go, I'd argue that him being in the best shape of his life entering this season is going to be pretty damn important. You could tell he got a little gassed at the end of the Wolves series, so that's definitely something to monitor not just in the Olympics, but once we get to the regular season as well.

This matchup was also a nice reminder that despite all these new players that suddenly get crowned the Best In The World, I'm pretty sure that title still rightfully belongs to Jokic. It may not be that way forever, but it's definitely still the case in 2024. Just like he does whenever he's matched up with a guy like Embiid, you know Jokic took this matchup seriously and wanted to prove a point. A nice little reminder of who still wears the BITW crown is how I took today's events.

But someone who has the potential to take that crown? You saw him in those highlights. 

I know we say this pretty much every single time Wemby does anything on a basketball court, but watching him I still cannot understand how he is a real person. To think that we are still in the early stages of his development and he's already doing shit like this on a nightly basis will never not be impressive to me. Now imagine if they somehow also land Cooper Flagg next summer? You can't rule that out. I'm also very excited to see what Wemby looks like playing next to a legit point guard in Chris Paul now that he finally has a teammate who knows how to throw an entry pass and how he's going to most likely unlock new levels within Wemby's game. That seems pretty terrifying!

In terms of the Olympics, I'd say these are two of the teams that many think will be able to at least give Team USA a challenge. Serbia doesn't have a roster full of NBA guys, mostly just Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic, but they always feel like a tough out because they've been playing together forever. On the France side, there's no denying their size with Wemby/Rudy and I'll always have love for Yabu. Their roster has way more NBA caliber/former players and in my opinion, they are #2 in terms of challengers to the US behind Germany, but for France, I do think it comes down to guard play. Having size is great, but if you don't have the guard play then it's mostly whatever, and anyone going up against Team USA is already working with a very slim margin for error to begin with.

When it comes to Wemby and Jokic, this is a battle we all have the privilege of watching for the next 10+ years in the West, and I for one think that rules. In order for Wemby and the Spurs to eventually make the leap everyone thinks they are capable of, they're going to have to be like everyone else and figure out the Jokic problem. 

If today was any indication (even in the FRA loss), it doesn't seem all that crazy to think that's where we're headed one day.