By Rex Lau

Victor Wembanyama is a 18-year-old French centre standing tall at 7 feet and 3 inches, blessed with shooting capabilities rivalling that of a point guard. Wembanyama is the crowd-favourite number one pick in the 2023 NBA draft, and the most promising upcoming player since LeBron James, arguably the best player ever. When I first watched him, saying I was astonished would be an understatement.

When comparing Wembanyama to an NBA player, your closest bet would be Kevin Durant, an NBA superstar who has won two championships. However, Wembanyama towers over Durant’s stature of 6 feet and 10 inches, and is still similarly accurate from midrange and the three-point line. 

But what evidence displays his greatness? During Wembanyama's first game in the United States, his team, the Metropolitans 92, faced off against the NBA G League Ignite team with Scoot Henderson, the number 2 crowd favourite pick. Over 200 scouts, NBA executives, and stars attended the game. Wembanyama dropped 37 points in the game and swatted five blocks. James didn’t praise him as a ‘unicorn,’ a special term used to describe players who are both versatile and dynamic, but described Wembanyama as being out of this world: “He’s more like an alien. He’s for sure a generational talent.” As the top scorer of the game, he performed better than his rival, scoring nine more points than Henderson.

Besides his staggering height and ability to score as easily as taking a walk in the park, Wembanyama’s wingspan measures 8 feet, or 2.43 metres long. This absurd length makes him a frightening defender, being able to block shots like nobody else. Despite Wembanyama being a young, inexperienced 18-year-old, his game sense is already more remarkable than most professionals in the NBA, especially regarding being flexible on defence and offence.

Take Wembanyama’s stats. During the 2019/20 season in the Nanterre 92, he was competing with players five years older than he was. Despite this disadvantage, Wembanyama still managed to average 10.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game in 20 minutes per game, being the best shot blocker of the LNB Pro A league. He scored 32 three-pointers in just 13 games, a reminder of his unearthly, diverse skill set. 

Keith Hornsby, an American shooting guard who has faced off Wembanyama multiple times in France, recalls being struck by his exceptional defensive ability during their first faceoff, an exhibition game in 2021.

Hornsby stated, “He switched on to me and he was playing pretty far off me, so I decided to take a shot. Then I saw this lanky arm just extend out of nowhere and block it. It was honestly a little bit embarrassing.” 

“Whenever he’s on the floor, his presence is felt. You can just feel him, feel the fact that he’s lurking about. He’s dangerous on offence and defence,” he later added.

If Wembanyama is that great, what do professionals think of him? Numerous NBA stars have left their remarks regarding Wembanyama.

“He’s like the 2k creator player,” said four-time championship winner and Warriors star Stephen Curry, referring to a type of overpowered player in video games. “Every point guard wants to be 7 feet cheat code type vibes.” 

“That type of talent and skill, it just puts a smile on your face,” said Nets star Kevin Durant, “We got 7 [feet] 5 [inches] dudes able to do everything on a court… the league’s really in trouble when [Wembanyama] comes in.”

However, some would argue that Wembanyama doesn’t have a specific role he excels at. He certainly has the height to play centre, but he weighs only 95 kilograms, far underweight compared to other NBA centres. Timberwolves centre Rudy Gobert weighs 111 kilograms, whilst being 2 inches shorter than Wembanyama. This large gap in weight makes it difficult for Wembanyama to make space under the rim against other centres. Besides being under the rim, Wembanyama’s speed and accuracy, though great, suffers from his stature and the position he plays. He would still fall short compared to any guard by being less agile because of his height, and having to spend more time fixated practising under the rim playing centre, rather than practising shooting from middle to long range.

This argument is certainly true… to people who haven’t watched him play! Wembanyama’s skillset is diverse — while he isn’t masterful of any one area, his versatility is his greatest asset — and he isn’t locked into playing under the basket as many centres are. Wembanyama’s multitude of skills, especially in speed and shooting, along with his stature allows him to do much more, as long as he isn’t restricted to playing like a traditional centre.

These types of prodigies are what make sports exciting and worth watching: to watch the game evolve, break pre-existing rules and bias, and let talented youngsters thrive and carry the torch. Let us all enjoy the last few moments of the current league before Wembanyama steps in and changes it forever.