Victor Wembanyama's Debut Struggles: Evaluating His Performance and Areas for Improvement in the NBA

2023-07-08 11:50:00

Eagerly awaited for his debut with the Spurs on Friday in the Summer League, Victor Wembanyama had a hard time for his very first match with San Antonio. Nothing to panic of course, but Wemby was able to see in real time the aspects of his game that deserve in-depth work. Like his physical condition for example.

If Wemby came away with what he was looking for – namely victory – yesterday in his first game for Spurs, he no doubt imagined himself putting in a more accomplished individual performance than the one he offered to the public in Las Vegas, who only had eyes for him.

Defensively Victor had his usual impact (5 blocks) despite the big poster he got eaten by Kai Jones, but in attack it was much harder: 9 points, 2/13 in shooting, of which only 1/6 at 3-points, with certainly 3 assists but also 3 losses of ball as a bonus. A lot of waste so that could be explained by fatigue.

At the post-match press conferenceVictor Wembanyama did not hesitate long when it came to highlighting his main line of work over the next few weeks.

“I have to work a lot on the physical condition to be able to play an 82-game season. Especially given the style of play, it runs a lot and it’s very tiring. Even though it was only a 40 minute game tonight, every time I went out I was tired.

Victor Wembanyama played 27 minutes in total yesterday, a higher number than expected. And he quickly realized – even if it was only the Summer League – that things galloped much more across the Atlantic than in France. From the first quarter, the Spurs and the Hornets played at a fast pace, going from one side of the field to the other with very few stoppages. Enough to quickly discharge the batteries of the Frenchie from 2m24, not really used to having to do so many races.

I will say for Victor wembanyama’s first game, he look a little tired. Didn’t have his legs under him, looked very nervous. Dude was shaking before the start of the game drinking from the cup lol but all in all can’t judge much from the very first NBA game. Give it some time.…

— Tony Ferland (@TFerland20) July 8, 2023

The adaptation of Wemby in the NBA will have to be done on different aspects, in particular in terms of the number of games to be played in a season and the fast style of play practiced in the Big League. Seeing him stick his tongue out like that is therefore not so surprising, especially since Victor is coming out of a long campaign with the Mets 92 punctuated by a very turbulent offseason, between the NBA Draft, Britney and everything that has been able to surround his highly anticipated arrival in the United States. And when you add to all that a logical lack of automatisms with his new Spurs teammates, as well as the small dose of stress accompanying his big debut, it gives a performance like the one we saw last night.