Victor Wembanyama at the 100-game mark: Is Wemby already a top-10 player in the NBA?

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There is no denying Victor Wembanyama has exceeded expectations as an NBA phenom. But how good has he been? Is he already a top-10 player in the league in only his second season?

As the Spurs star gets ready to play in his 100th NBA game on Friday — and turn 21 on Saturday! — our staff puts his early career into perspective and explores his ultimate ceiling.

1. Score from 0 to 100: What grade would you give Wembanyama at the 100-game mark?

Vincent Goodwill: 100. What hasn’t he done? What can’t he do? Leap tall buildings in a single bound? Block shots, start a fast break and finish it before you can inhale/exhale? He’s done all of that and hasn’t had to commandeer the Spurs’ offense. Last year, nobody knew how to give him the ball, or didn’t want to, and he still dominated. This year, more of the same. Okay, back-to-the-basket game, mid-post game, he’s working on it. But he’s not even a season and a half in.

Tom Haberstroh: 99. Like the greats, he’s exceeded great expectations. At 7-foot-5 — don’t give me that 7-foot-3 nonsense — Wemby warps the game in ways we’ve never seen at his age. If he’s this good before his 21st birthday, I shudder to think what he’ll be ahead of his 31st birthday. A playoff visit with this roster will bump this up to a 100.

Morten Stig Jensen: 95. My interpretation of 100 is Wilt/Kareem/MJ territory, so Wemby falls just short, in some part due to the fact that his first 30 or so games were significantly under par for how he’s played since — and yes, that was indeed San Antonio’s fault, but it still happened. He’s got plenty of areas to further improve upon, such as lowering turnovers, optimizing his playmaking, and getting his shot-selection more under control, which makes him all that more ridiculous of a player. 95 for a guy who’s going to see exponential improvements over the next five seasons is like starting a video game with all cheats toggled on.

Ben Rohrbach: 100. I’m not sure we could have reasonably expected anything other than what Wembanyama has done, which is establish himself as a bona fide candidate for All-NBA and Defensive Player of…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-03 16:10:00

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