The basketball world has been taken by storm by Victor Wembanyama. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft to the San Antonio Spurs has captured the attention of basketball fans everywhere with his never before seen combination of size, length and skill.
There hasn’t been a prospect touted as much as Wembanyama since LeBron James was gracing the cover of magazines and becoming headline news as a high schooler in the early 2000s. That is the kind of phenomenon that Wembanyama is being made out to be.
For anyone who has watched him play, it is easy to see why. While he certainly has to gain some weight and strength to handle the rigors of the NBA, watching him on the basketball court is mesmerizing.
It will be interesting to see how opponents try and slow him down as he can seemingly counter any game plan. If you put a bigger player on him, he has the ball handling and athleticism to blow by them to the basket. A smaller player stands no chance against him as he can post up anywhere on the court, turn around and shoot it right over them.
During a recent appearance on Podcast P with Paul George, former Defensive Player of the Year and four-time All-Defensive Team member, Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors revealed how he will attempt to slow Wembanyama down when the two of them match up.
“You’re not just dribbling through me like the Harlem Globetrotters. I’m sorry,” said Green. “You can’t let him get comfortable. You let him get comfortable you lose because you can’t block his shot. He may not even see your contest. So with a guy like that, you gotta do your work early. I‘m crowding him from the time he starts running down the court. When they get the rebound and they start coming I’m crowding because I can’t let him get to a space where he’s comfortable.”
Physicality is something that Wembanyama is going to face regularly at the start of his career. It is the only true advantage that players in the league are going to have over him as they should be able to push him off his spot in the early going. But, if he gets to where he wants to be, good luck slowing him down.
He has showcased an array of post moves and alterations to his jumper to get his shot off. Given how tall he is, most of the time he isn’t even seeing the contest from his opponent while pulling up for a shot right over them.
The strategy that Green is going to employ is likely the best one, at least for now, to try and slow Wembanyama down. Stopping the French star will be virtually impossible; teams are going to have to hope to be able to just slow him down.
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