Victor Wembanyama savagely buries a fan's 187-week-old bold take with befitting reply: "Why not?"
Victor Wemanyama is arguably the most-hyped NBA rookie of all time, comparable to the time when LeBron James first arrived in the league back in 2003. Hailing from France, the lanky center was picked up by the San Antonio Spurs with the first pick of the 2023 NBA draft. Having already played professional basketball in France since 2019, Wemby was expected to take the league by storm. He did more than that with an excellent rookie season.
The 20-year-old undoubtedly has had his fair share of critics, and still continues to. One of them, a fan on Instagram questioned Victor Wembanyama’s ability to translate his game to the NBA. Under a post from "nba.in_depth", the fan had claimed the following:
"He not gone do none of that in the NBA."
The post itself from 187 weeks ago showed a past headline, which talked about how Wemby, at the age of 16, had been dominating full-grown men in France. The 2024 Rookie of the Year and All-Defensive First Team member responded to the post recently, and effectively destroyed the fan’s opinion via a simple question:
“Why not?”
Of course, there is simply no answer to that one. Wembanyama has proven that there is no reason why he cannot continue a trend that he has maintained throughout his career. To start, he had an extremely successful first season for the Spurs.
Victor Wembanyama had successful NBA rookie season despite the Spurs’ woes
Wembanyama became the first rookie ever to be included in the NBA’s All-Defensive First team and lead the league in blocks, with 3.6 per game. While the 20-year-old phenom was largely viewed as a major contender for the Defensive Player of the Year award, that one went to Rudy Gobert, majorly because the San Antonio Spurs had a season to forget.
Gregg Popovich’s side last reached the playoffs in 2019 and finished 14th in the Western Conference with a 22-60 record this year. While the team struggled to get wins all through the season, Wembanyama’s defensive ability was in full show. The player’s 8-foot wingspan means that he has an obvious advantage over the rest of the league, and regularly seems to be toying with those trying to attack him.
Apart from averaging 21.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, he held his own against some of the best players in the league last season, and will only grow in stature in the coming time. The Spurs also have a severe lack of supporting personnel willing to work around Wembanyama, which is something the front office will be looking to change in the coming offseason.