San Antonio Spurs rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama has taken the NBA by storm. He is accomplishing things we have rarely ever seen from established players, let alone someone playing in their first season in the league.
His production this season has been outstanding. Despite being on a minutes restriction, he is putting up eye-popping numbers on a nightly basis. In 60 games, all starts, Wembanyama is averaging 20.8 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 3.5 blocks in only 29 minutes per game.
That production has put him on pace to accomplish something only Shaquille O’Neal has during an NBA season. O’Neal is considered one of the most dominant players in NBA history, while Wembanyama is just starting his journey.
Could their careers take another similar path down the road? During an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today, analyst Ramona Shelbourne hinted that Wembanyama could look for a change of scenery if the Spurs don’t start winning games regularly soon.
“Victor is here and he wants to win… I don’t know how patient he’s going to be (with the #Spurs)… I don’t think he wants to sit here at the bottom of the lottery standings.”
60 games into his career and analysts are already trying to start narratives about him wanting to leave the Spurs. San Antonio has struggled to win games this season, as they are 15-53, which is the fourth fewest victories in the league.
A tough season was expected for the Spurs, who are in the early stages of the rebuild around Wembanyama. It will take more than one offseason to reshape the roster around him and his unique skill set as San Antonio is loaded with youngsters.
With plenty of assets and cap space at their disposal, the Spurs can reshape this roster pretty quickly. Having a star such as Wembanyama in the middle of that rebuild certainly has to make people within the organization happy about what the future holds for the team.
It would be hard to imagine Wembanyama is already planning an exit strategy to find his next NBA team to play on. It is too early in his career to be thinking about that, especially since the Spurs have proven capable of building sustainable contenders in the past.
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