Sportswriters are rapidly running out of adjectives to describe the freakish feats Victor Wembanyama continues to pull off in his first NBA season.
The Spurs rookie added yet another highlight to his growing list during San Antonio's matchup against the Washington Wizards on Monday.
With the Spurs leading 46-43 midway through the second quarter, Wizards center Daniel Gafford tried to loft a floater over Wembanyama in the paint. The Frenchman did more than just block the shot. He snatched it down right before it reached its apex.
Bilal Coulibaly’s face on the Wizards’ bench said it all. Wemby’s former Metropolitans 92 teammate has probably seen the same thing happen in practice dozens of times before.
Other prolific shot-blockers have done similar-looking feats. But Wembanyama’s entry is arguably on a different level given that it came against a 6-foot-10 center in Gafford who purposely tried to arc his shot — and the Spurs' big man still reached it despite leaping while flatfooted.
Wembanyama entered Monday’s contest averaging an NBA-best 3.1 blocks per game despite not yet being allowed to buy a beer in the U.S. To put that into perspective, three-time Defensive Player of the Year and fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert has never averaged more than 2.6 blocks per game after more than a decade in the NBA.
The fact that Wemby can already block shots better than Gobert while also having the ability to do the Shammgod crossover against him is just plain unfair.
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