"He will score 101 points": Metta World Peace claims Victor Wembanyama will eclipse Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point record
Through the first half of his rookie season, Victor Wembanyama has lived up to the offseason hype. One former player has been so amazed by him that he feels the Spurs big man will break the league's most historic record.
While sitting down with Sportskeeda's Mark Medina, longtime NBA forward Metta World Peace shared his thoughts on the 2023 No. 1 pick. The former champion compared him to Wilt Chamberlain, and feels he has the size and skills to break his 100-point game record.
“He’s unbelievable. He reminds me of Wilt. He’s coming in dominating, but not quite ready," World Peace said. "No center has ever had the same skillset that Wembanyama has. Once he gets a little bit bigger and continues to get smarter works on his game and continues to do yoga, he will score 101 points."
Standing at 7-foot-4 with the ability to score from anywhere on the court, many anxiously waited to see Victor Wembanyama in NBA action. Through the first half of the season, he has already built up an eye-popping highlight reel. This season, the Rookie of the Year frontrunner is averaging 20.6 points, 10.1 rebounds and a league-leading 3.1 blocks.
What is the most points Victor Wembanyama has scored in a game this season?
Typically, it takes rookies the first few weeks of the season to get adjust to going against NBA defenses. However, that was not the case for Victor Wembanyama. His ability to adapt quicker than other prospects likely stems from him playing professionally overseas before enetering the league.
Just past the halfway point in the schedule, Victor Wembanyama's season high sits at 38 points. This came in just the first game of the year in a win over Kevin Durant and the Phoneix Suns.
Since that game, Wembanyama hasn't really come close to setting a new season high. This is partially because the San Antonio Spurs have had him on a minutes restriction the past few weeks. The team has kept his playing time to around 25 minutes a night since he rolled his ankle during warm-ups against the Dallas Mavericks on December 23rd.
The closest Wembanyama has come to his 38 point performance was 33 points against the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this month. However, the performance kind of got overlooked. The biggest topic from that game ended up being Joel Embiid after he erupted for 70 points.
Wembanyama might not be putting up big scoring numbers, but he has been consistent. The rookie big man has scored at least 20 points in 14 of his last 15 games. Seeing how he's performed this season, Metta World Peace is right to believe he has the potential to become a prolific offensive talent.