"Gonna have a Michael Jordan 87-88 year": Ex-Warriors guard predicts major leap for 'generational' player in 2026-27 season
Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas compared Victor Wembanyama to a young Michael Jordan. Arenas was impressed with the way Wembanyama performed during his rookie season. Given the all-around talent the San Antonio Spurs center displayed, Arenas couldn't help but compare his performance to Jordan's performance back in the 1987-88 season.
“That 2026-27 season, man, that's gonna be All-Wemby dawg," Arenas said. "That's gonna be blocks, steals, rebounds. He gonna have a Jordan' 87-88 year.”
During Wembanyama's rookie year, he averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals, enough to win him the Rookie of the Year award. Many consider his combination of size and skills unprecedented.
This season, the Spurs added veterans in Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes as they aim to improve from their 20-62 finish last year. They also added rookie Stephon Castle, a combo guard who had an impressive preseason.
Looking back at Michael Jordan's 1987-88 season performance
Back in the 1987-88 season, Michael Jordan made the basketball world fall in love with him even more after accomplishing practically everything in one season. Jordan won his first NBA MVP award and his first Defensive Player of the Year award. He also became the first-ever player to win both the MVP and DPOY award in the same season.
Jordan was also named to his fourth All-Star game while averaging 35.0 ppg, 5.9 apg, 5.5 rpg, 3.2 spg and 1.6 bpg in the regular season. His efforts helped the Chicago Bulls secure the third seed in the 1988 NBA Playoffs. He accomplished all these feats at the young age of 24.
Before Michael Jordan won six championships, he was already proving himself to be one of the greatest players of all time. However, he struggled to solidify his GOAT status due to the "Bad Boys" Detroit Pistons always getting in his way. The Pistons at the time were notorious for physically crushing Jordan in-game to prevent him from making a deep playoff run.
While Jordan as an individual player had nothing left to prove after making history in the 1987-88 season, he lacked the support to help him overcome Detroit. The Pistons ultimately eliminated the Bulls in the second round of the 1988 NBA Playoffs, marking an anticlimactic end to Jordan's historic season.