“He got sisters”: Stephen A. Smith cites underrated reason for snubbing Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren over surprise ROTY pick
Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren squared off in their first highly anticipated meeting when the San Antonio Spurs and OKC Thunder met on Monday night. The preseason matchup gave fans plenty to talk about heading into the regular season despite limited playing time in the NBA preseason. With both men having sensational outings, the Rookie of the Year debate has already heated up.
In the case of Victor Wembanyama, the French superstar scored 20 points while hauling down five boards in just 19 minutes. On the flip side, in the case of Chet Holmgren, his 21 points and nine rebounds in just 16 minutes helped propel the Thunder to a narrow one-point victory.
Despite that, Stephen A. Smith believes that there's another player who could steal the Rookie of the Year award from both of the big men. While speaking on Tuesday morning's episode of First Take, Smith spoke about the Rookie of the Year race, tapping Scoot Henderson to win.
"I'm not going to lie to you, I think it's going to be Scoot Henderson in Portland," Smith said. "The brother got an NBA body, he's in attack mode, he's aggressive. And I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm partial to this, ... I'm the youngest of six, I got four oldest sisters, that brother Scoot Henderson in Portland, the third overall pick, he got sisters."
"I met em, they the type of sisters, first of all they can ball," he added. "And secondly they get in his face and they will get in his face long before anybody else will whether it's the coaches or the teammates. When you got relatives that's in your face and you know they have an impact on you and they affect your motor."
Currently, Victor Wembanyama sits as the betting favorite on three of the major U.S. sportsbooks (FanDuel, MGM, and DraftKings). At the same time, Chet Holmgren currently sits in third place on the betting odds behind Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson.
Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren share thoughts following the first meeting
With both Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren being lanky big men who have unique skills, it's no wonder the two men have drawn comparisons. Despite that, there are some key nuances to both of their games. As fans saw last night, Wembanyama isn't as active on the boards as Holmgren for example.
In addition, Chet Holmgren is also believed to have a better perimeter game compared to Victor Wembanyama. While the French star has better handles as compared to the OKC rookie. Following their first meeting in the preseason, the two men both spoke about the clash to media members following the game.
Wembanyama stated:
“My best games are when I put energy on the court," he said. "I’m a rookie. What I gotta do is play defense and play hard and give it 100%. I gotta be tired when I get subbed out. I was just trying to put energy out at all times.”
On the flip side, Holmgren joked about the meeting, reflecting on an accidental headbutt from Wembanyama, jokingly writing on Twitter:
"The headbutt is an unstoppable move fasho"
Well, it remains to be seen how both of these tune-up in the regular season against big bodies.