Player The unfortunately low-ceilinged Shaolin monastery of Victor Wembanyama

[Exstatic]

I stated a fact that you can't deny, so you gotta use insults. Fits your dumbass

Correlation does not imply causation​

 

[Sugus]

Two men are talking on the sidelines of a painting exhibition. A third man listens to what one says to the other:

“It seems to me that Picasso's influence has always overshadowed that of Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Fernand Léger in the same field. Picasso is a tad overrated.”

After hearing this, the third man approaches the other two and says:

“Yes, I've always thought that Picasso couldn't draw.”

Seriously one of the best analogies I've ever seen for the discourse around Wemby, hats off!

Some people just cannot fathom anything but the most hyperbolic and reactionary of takes. Crazy

 

[Sugus]

It’s a little surprising/disappointing/whatever that he really doesn’t look materially different than his rookie year. I know his core strength is much better, which allows him more ability to operate in the paint. But he’s still a total string bean. Which I guess is maybe what he’ll just be. There were some giannis fantasies for a while with him filling out into a monster, but looks like giannis is a 1 of 1.

…and he’s hurt all the time now with soft tissue stuff so maybe it’s best if Vic stays lighter.

Dude, go look at pictures of rookie Wemby vs this season's Wemby. The physical change is immediately obvious and visible on most/all pics of Wemby this season. Look at the arms and shoulders..........

Maybe, just maybe, expecting Wemby to morph into Giannis was a delusional expectation that sets him up for failure at no fault of his own...

 

[Sugus]

Wemby is awesome. I hope I never get so miserable that I ignore the absolutely ridiculous stuff he does on an every-game basis. The dude is like 22 and the Spurs are in second place. Enjoy. It costs you nothing

Biggest brained take of 2026 so far, tbh

 

[Exstatic]

Dude, go look at pictures of rookie Wemby vs this season's Wemby. The physical change is immediately obvious and visible on most/all pics of Wemby this season. Look at the arms and shoulders..........

Maybe, just maybe, expecting Wemby to morph into Giannis was a delusional expectation that sets him up for failure at no fault of his own...

Giannis wasn’t even built like Giannis at the beginning of year three.

 

[Strategic]

Wemby’s such an incredible talent. I think he will learn to either shoot it quickly or make a good pass quickly when he has the ball up top. Bringing the ball down against smaller guards isn’t going to work until he develops better ball handling skills.

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2006535990639493469

https://twitter.com/x/status/2006547244288278793

 

[ginobilized]

Dropping 31/13 in 23 mins is god-level shit. Gotta appreciate this dude on so many levels.

Anyone remember watching Jordan miss shot after shot on contested jumpers and countless turnovers, often in crunch time, as he was learning the league and growing into his potential?

We have normalized this Alien being, which is to be expected for we mere mortals. The path to greatness doesn't allow for holding back. I love that Wemby goes for seemingly stupid moves over and over. He's reaching for greatness AND his team is 2nd in the West. It's going to take a while to comprehend his talent and trajectory. Projecting fundamental basketball rules onto him is limiting and unfair. I expect it will take years to comprehend his talent and potential. It's unfolding in front of our very eyes. Let's just pour one out to the basketball gods after every game he plays in a Spurs uniform.

 

[LeBowen]

He's at 22/10/2.6 with 2 blocks on 57/41/82 with 2.8 turnovers since he came back. 23mpg.

His per36 for the season is 29.4/14/4 on 52/36/84 with 3.5 blocks, 1 steal and 4 turnovers.

We're really rough on him and while his iso ball can be incredibly frustrating, he's already an MVP level player with arguably the biggest impact in the league while not even doing anything.

 

[spursistan]

He's at 22/10/2.6 with 2 blocks on 57/41/82 with 2.8 turnovers since he came back. 23mpg.

His per36 for the season is 29.4/14/4 on 52/36/84 with 3.5 blocks, 1 steal and 4 turnovers.

We're really rough on him and while his iso ball can be incredibly frustrating, he's already an MVP level player with arguably the biggest impact in the league while not even doing anything.

He's 3rd in BPM and 4th in EPM (probably the most reliable and all-encompassing 'impact' metric), which more or less matches his place in the pecking order (between him and Doncic). I think sometime next season he leapfrogs Giannis.

Dunks & Threes: Pro Basketball Analysis

NBA stats, analysis, and predictions. Home of Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM).

dunksandthrees.com

2025-26 NBA Player Stats: Advanced | Basketball-Reference.com

Checkout the Advanced player stats for 2025-26 NBA Season and more on Basketball-Reference.com

www.basketball-reference.com

 

[frenchfred]

good game from Wemby. I love the turnaround jumpshot after rebounding Castle's missed FT, very Garnet like. I hope that he can do more of those, they are unguardable.

 

[spursfanfromafar]

While Wemby in Year 3 is clearly the DPOY (and will win it if he just appears in 65 games with the minutes cut off) and his overall work has put him in the fringes of the MVP conversation (with SGA, Jokic, Luka dominating it).. there is still some work for him to do to be in, bang in the middle of that conversation. For e.g. here's a look at the DARKO trajectory for Wemby and compare it with Jokic-

Clearly Wemby is trending in the direction of Jokic's greatness and that is great news (in fact he was already peaking in the first two years unlike Jokic).

But there is another way to look at the image.. Notice the descending trend in recent games (Late in Year 2 and this Year 3) for Wemby. If it was some pedestrian games (relative to his level) on defense last year before he was shut down, this year, its his offense that is pulling his DARKO down a bit despite stellar Defense.

The question to be answered for Wemby and the coaching staff if he needs to take his levels further up is how to integrate his skillsets on offense even as they have found the sweet spot for him on defense. I ain't no basketball coach, but from what I see.. its just not Wemby's faults like turnovers or the difficulty of his work (ball handling) or inconsistent shooting (35% from 3) that is pulling his offensive numbers down. But it is the fact that the Spurs coaching staff are still trying to find a niche for him within the offense.

I feel the playing-Wemby-from-the-bench was also a way to try to find how to integrate him with the guard heavy offense. And I think for some reason, Wemby fits much well in an offense where he is surrounded by Harper, Keldon and two other shooters than a lineup with Fox and/or Castle in it. The Spurs coaching staff and these two ball handlers must find a way to get Wemby as a key part of the offense as much as they have made him the lynchpin on defense. I think it will come over time and as Wemby builds habits suited for those lineups his efficiency will increase dramatically on offense. I dont see anything problematic with his skill levels that prevent that from happening.

So its less a case of which template Wemby needs to follow? KD or KG or Giannis and more a case of how to make the guard heavy Spurs lineup function better with Wemby as a key offensive weapon rather than just an alien who nullies the opposition's offense.

 

[Davidicus]

Really liked what I saw from Wemby on offense last night, specifically:

1. Midrange: Started and ended the game with a middy over a shorter OG. OREB off a missed FT turned into a middy.
2. Fought for position under the basket for alley-oops / easy buckets. Helped that Robinson was out, but at least Vic recognized and took advantage.
3. Seemed more selective when and where driving from the 3PT line.

He ran in transition, hit some 3s, and got to the line, but those are givens that I haven’t seen a need for improvement.

My big gripe his whole career has been those 3 things ^, and at least for one night he looked great on all 3.

31pts on 83% shooting in 24min don’t lie!

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2006594642616168687

 

[frenchfred]

While Wemby in Year 3 is clearly the DPOY (and will win it if he just appears in 65 games with the minutes cut off) and his overall work has put him in the fringes of the MVP conversation (with SGA, Jokic, Luka dominating it).. there is still some work for him to do to be in, bang in the middle of that conversation. For e.g. here's a look at the DARKO trajectory for Wemby and compare it with Jokic-
View attachment 261
Clearly Wemby is trending in the direction of Jokic's greatness and that is great news (in fact he was already peaking in the first two years unlike Jokic).

But there is another way to look at the image.. Notice the descending trend in recent games (Late in Year 2 and this Year 3) for Wemby. If it was some pedestrian games (relative to his level) on defense last year before he was shut down, this year, its his offense that is pulling his DARKO down a bit despite stellar Defense.

The question to be answered for Wemby and the coaching staff if he needs to take his levels further up is how to integrate his skillsets on offense even as they have found the sweet spot for him on defense. I ain't no basketball coach, but from what I see.. its just not Wemby's faults like turnovers or the difficulty of his work (ball handling) or inconsistent shooting (35% from 3) that is pulling his offensive numbers down. But it is the fact that the Spurs coaching staff are still trying to find a niche for him within the offense.

I feel the playing-Wemby-from-the-bench was also a way to try to find how to integrate him with the guard heavy offense. And I think for some reason, Wemby fits much well in an offense where he is surrounded by Harper, Keldon and two other shooters than a lineup with Fox and/or Castle in it. The Spurs coaching staff and these two ball handlers must find a way to get Wemby as a key part of the offense as much as they have made him the lynchpin on defense. I think it will come over time and as Wemby builds habits suited for those lineups his efficiency will increase dramatically on offense. I dont see anything problematic with his skill levels that prevent that from happening.

So its less a case of which template Wemby needs to follow? KD or KG or Giannis and more a case of how to make the guard heavy Spurs lineup function better with Wemby as a key offensive weapon rather than just an alien who nullies the opposition's offense.

The main issue I have with Wemby's offense is that it depends a lot on his teammates finding him inside. He is a very streaky shooter, when he is hot then every is fine but when he's not, he doesn't seem to have a go-to move to go back to build his confidence back ala Tim, KG...playing in the low post with bank shots or turnaround jumpers.

 

[Shmurs]

Dude, go look at pictures of rookie Wemby vs this season's Wemby. The physical change is immediately obvious and visible on most/all pics of Wemby this season. Look at the arms and shoulders..........

Maybe, just maybe, expecting Wemby to morph into Giannis was a delusional expectation that sets him up for failure at no fault of his own...

this is a funny one. Person A says it was a fantasy, person B says “why did you have such an expectation “

…excellent stuff.

Giannis wasn’t even built like Giannis at the beginning of year three.

what an incredibly dishonest take relative to this discussion. He was jacked in year 3.

 

[Shmurs]

If you guys can’t handle a “Wemby is great but I have an observation” then what are you really doing? Find the bad arguments and respond to them. You dudes are so incredibly fragile.

 

[PanameSpur]

Dear god, you are a fucking moron tbh.. I guess every forum needs his moron, congrats for the title

He was spamming the same bs post in different threads

He's owns some of the worst takes ever, A real idiot.

 

[PanameSpur]

Last year, Victor shot three-pointers far too often. It was clearly a learning curve, a way of letting him find his feet and providing the coaching staff with a wealth of useful statistics for his current three-point shot selection: where and when to take them. Regardless of his current percentage, I assume that, thanks to the data provided last year, he now has a certain ease in knowing when and where to take these shots.

I am convinced that, in a way, this kind of Giannis-like situation, charging headfirst like a ram to try to move a defender he can't get past with a drive, is just as much a freedom given to Victor to see if he can find his own comfort zone and recognize, through persistence and experimentation in this very specific area, for years to come.

Next year it will probably be something else. They need to find Victor's strengths in every possible position to make him as complete a player as possible. As with CB, however, I think these experiments should now be limited. If I remember correctly, these situations mainly occurred at the start of the game. After that, he shot from the perimeter like KD and finished plays near the basket.

According to the stats given above, his turnovers still seem limited. If he's allowed to take these risks at the start of the game or when the team has a big lead, that seems normal to me. In the Cup semifinals and finals, I don't remember him attempting this kind of play. They were probably already in efficiency mode, playing strictly to their strengths, no risks.

As for weight, imagine hyperextending the knee with an extra 40 pounds in the upper body. The only area where I think it's possible to gain muscle mass is in his legs and ass, but only if it doesn't affect his flexibility and if that mass isn't dangerous for his ankles. At 7 feet 5 inches, he probably can't be built like Giannis without causing problems for his ankles.

It is this uncertainty that must lead the staff to be so cautious. You make diagnoses or physical programs based on data. Victor is outside the data. So here too, it's not science, but experimentation. Giannis isn't the first person of his build and height to gain so much muscle mass. The future of the Spurs for the next ten years depends on Victor's health. No one wants to see at what temperature this big kernel of corn turns into popcorn. So we're keeping him warm enough without toasting him. Victor must not Pop.

This.

Very good post, I was also wondering why he went from an extreme to another as I think his 3pt shooting is vital not only to spread the floor but to extend his career as well.

He's working on the least comfortable part of his game this season, but I'm greedy and still waiting for some easy go-to moves and positioning before the defender.

As for his strength, I think he should bulk up his shoulders and arms to allow him to resist and keep a position and post up. I'm not sure it's just his legs that can't hold it.

He should do lateral raises daily ^^

 

[Guru of Nothing]

About Wemby and turnovers, I think a little patience in his game would go a long way. His turnover on second possession of the game was least surprising event in the game. Let the guards loosen up opponents early and then the world will open up for Victor.

 

[Ice009]

You girls keep slitting your wrists after every loss. Kid isn't even 22 yet. His on-court production may not always equal his pronouncements of being the best in the league, but fuck if he isn't at least actually close to being one. He's absolutely the best defender already, and his offense, though imperfect and can be infuriating at times, is at the bare minimum that of a star - and when he's hot, oh boy.

I was once an emo twat like you lot but only a couple of weeks ago I've decided to be at peace with the goddamn process. He's still growing but that confidence will absolutely propel him to greater heights.

He is far, far from a finished product.

He's far from a finished product, but now, he's starting to get to Tim Duncan's age (the greatest player in Spurs history and one of the greatest players ever). At just one year older, Tim was way more mature in his game and he led the Spurs to the Championship. Yes, Tim had a great team of vets to help him, but at a similar age, Tim is way ahead on maturity on the court and how to play the game and use his strengths out there.
You want to say he's still young, and he is, but Victor himself has talked about being the greatest of all time, but now that he's turning 22, he's going to start falling behind Tim Duncan and Lebron too (at a similar age). Talking about being greatest of all time was all OK when he was 19, 20, 21, but now, he needs to starting making those leaps if he wants to get there.

Personally, I don't care about being the greatest of all time or having the highest stats. I only care about wins and Championships. If he can get his teammate going and still have good/great games himself, that's all that matters really. All I know is that the games are more exiting when Victor plays, so I'd rather him play and not put pressure on himself with all this greatest of all time stuff.

tbh Wemby's offensive game is just disappointing and that is mostly based on his 'choice' to do dumb things. This is year 3 already and I think the trajectory is slower than expectation as he should already had 1 and half season to test out what he is good or not good at.

He has to understand what stuff he 'can' get better with and what stuff he probably 'won't ever' get better with. Like overestimating his dribbling skills and trying to dribble into triple team.

Maybe the media has hyped him up too much with the GOAT potential, Hakeem training etc.

Comparing, I believe another greatest prospect of all time, LeBron has taken higher leap in his year 2 and 3 than Wemby did.

The trajectory has slowed down a bit. He's about to fall behind Tim Duncan in his own franchise (Tim Duncan is amazing, though, so that's not a slight).

He talks too much, is way too transparent or generous with the media. He doesn't realize the cost that goes with it.

If you say you're the best or among the MVPs of the league, you can't let your team lose at home back to back vs UTA and CLE

What's head scratching is that his lows are still as impressive and unpredictable than his highs. Sometimes during the same game as we saw vs Cavs for ex where he killed his team to end the 1st half and almost brought it back later with valiant efforts in the 2nd.

I don't have a problem with him talking, I just know that he doesn't realize everything it implies.

Yeah, he says stuff out loud that he probably shouldn't. I think he's putting unneeded pressure on himself by saying some of the stuff he says, he's making it harder on himself and his opponents are probably giving a bit extra against the Spurs. Why makes things harder when you don't have to? It's probably not helping his teammates either having a target on their backs because of some of the stuff he says. TD never would have said stuff that could fire up his opponents. It's hard enough to win games and playoff series, no need to make it harder on yourself.

I only just finished watching the Knicks game a couple of hours or so ago and hadn't come to look at Baseline Bums since before the game against NY. I was a bit scared to come on here to see if there was news/updates on his injury. Hopefully he's all good. He was playing very well this game before getting hurt . Really thankful it doesn't appear to be serious.

 

[MannyIG]

I'm not sure fans realize how rare it is for a super star to accept coming off the becnh THAT many times.

Wemby is helping massively Mitch the same way TD allowing Pop to scream at him helped this one shred anyone comfortably after.

Huge respect for Vic tbh, the kid is really different, he's über ambitious but still have his ego in check. It rarely goes together in life.

lol you gotta chill man we watched Manu for a decade plus. Wemby is good but coming off the bench for a week isn’t going to be impressive to Spurs fans and honestly it shouldn’t be. The bar should be higher.

 

[Exstatic]

lol you gotta chill man we watched Manu for a decade plus. Wemby is good but coming off the bench for a week isn’t going to be impressive to Spurs fans and honestly it shouldn’t be. The bar should be higher.

Evan Mobley recently returned from injury, and refused to come off the bench.

It’s a different day from when Manu played, and although we had and appreciated the ultimate sixth man, it doesnt mean we can’t also appreciate a star who does it today when others won’t, even short term.

 

[MannyIG]

About Wemby and turnovers, I think a little patience in his game would go a long way. His turnover on second possession of the game was least surprising event in the game. Let the guards loosen up opponents early and then the world will open up for Victor.

I think part of the problem is that the turnovers are largely through his face up play where he tries to play like a guard. It’s a bit frustrating and it’s pretty clear to me he’s never going to be able to have enough space to face up and drive because even though he’s got a giant one one one advantage the help d is so damn easy because his dibble is so high.

Mitch is clearly annoyed by it as well. I’m happy that Mitch is trying to address it but I’m a bit annoyed at Wemby forcing the issue so much but perhaps that’s what makes him such a good competitor in other respects.

It’s a bit nit picky and he’s obviously young af but I get the frustration as well. Long term I’m sure he’ll figure it out.

 

[MannyIG]

Evan Mobley recently returned from injury, and refused to come off the bench.

It’s a different day from when Manu played, and although we had and appreciated the ultimate sixth man, it doesnt mean we can’t also appreciate a star who does it today when others won’t, even short term.

The bar needs to be higher. It’s not bad he came off the bench but just like I’m not going to laude people for being the bare minimum I’m not going to gas up Wemby for coming off the bench for a week.