Victor Wembanyama is the NBA’s future, and resistance is futile

By Yaron Weitzman
FOX Sports NBA Writer

The funny thing is, it’s not like Victor Wembanyama was some sort of secret talent, a la Bo Cruz. 

For months, NBA Draft experts have been hyping him up as a transcendent talent. Just a few weeks ago, one longtime international scout who’d seen Wembanyama in person multiple times described him to FOX Sports as a “player who can change the game, a prospect like Shaq and LeBron, something we’ve never seen before.” Another described him as an “alien, a once-in-a-generation guy.” A third scout said, “He’s the future face of the league.” 

But seeing it for yourself is different, and this week the entire basketball world did exactly that. There he was, in two games against the G League’s Ignite squad — a group featuring some of the top prospects in the country, including likely No. 2 pick Scott Henderson — and in front of 200-plus NBA scouts and executives, and throngs of media members, and on national TV, a 7-foot-4 18-year-old, shooting from deep like Kristaps Porzingis, pulling up off the bounce like Paul George, pivoting in the mid-post like Kobe Bryant, and swatting shots like Rudy Gobert.

His two-game masterpiece against the G-League’s Ignite squad — a group featuring some of the top prospects in the country, including likely No. 2 pick Scoot Henderson — in front of 200-plus NBA scouts and executives, and throngs of media members, on national TV, sent notice.

Stephen Curry, a man likely not often awed by what he sees on the court, put it best this week when asked about Wembanyama. “He’s like the [NBA] 2K create-a-player,” he told reporters. “Cheat-code-type vibes, man.” 

It was like the first time ESPN televised one of LeBron’s high school games, one of those rare moments where an impossibly hyped prospect exceeds said hype. Let’s roll off the stats first. In two games against Ignite, Wembanyama, playing for his French team, Metropolitans 92, and in the United States for the first time, racked up 73 points (!) on 50 percent shooting (!!), drilled nine of his 18 3-point attempts (!!!), turned the ball over just three times (!!!!) and he swatted nine shots (!!!!). 

What’s most incredible, though, is that those numbers don’t do justice to his performance — they don’t capture the feeling of watching the highlights and seeing things that feel like they should be impossible. Just look at the smile that broke out across Kevin Durant’s face when he was asked this week about Wembanyama. 

“The evolution of the game has taken us this far,” Durant said. “We’ve got 7-5 dudes who are able to do everything on the court.”

All of which means we’re about to see what could be an unprecedented race to the bottom of the standings. The San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz have already gotten a head start, holding fire sales this summer, but don’t be surprised if you see teams like the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder join them soon — as well as any other team that gets off to a slow start. 

This is the power of Wembanyama, and of what he did this week. Not only will tanking be an easier sell to fan bases who will now all be acutely familiar with Wembanyama’s potential, but you can be sure that a number of team owners have already asked their GMs if they, too, should be tanking.

Wembanyama is the rare player who’s going to have an impact on the NBA standings — not just the bottom of the barrel; how many NBA contenders are going to take advantage of teams selling off starters? — before playing a single NBA game. 

 “I know that many of our NBA teams are salivating at the notion that potentially through our lottery, they can get him,” commissioner Adam Silver told reporters this week when asked about Wembanyama. Seemingly catching himself but also conceding, Silver added, without much conviction, “so they should all still compete very hard next season.” 

Silver can see what the rest of the basketball world can. Wembanyama is a game-changer, the sort of talent so overwhelming that trying to convince teams not to tank for him would be both silly and fruitless.

Wembanyama might not have yet arrived in the NBA, but the future that he’s bringing with him certainly has.

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He is the author of “Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports.” Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.