Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama gets ‘perfect’ compliment from Shaq

Victor Wembanyama has proven to be every bit the difference maker he is for the San Antonio Spurs in his first taste of playoff action. In Game 5, Wembanyama may have taken a backseat to De’Aaron Fox on the offensive end, with Fox keeping the Portland Trail Blazers at bay en route to their 114-95 victory, but he was elite on the defensive end — recording six blocked shots on the night, including a few emphatic rejections, that killed any hopes of a comeback from the seventh-seeded Blazers.

This was the kind of performance scouts were foreseeing from Wembanyama even before he entered the NBA in 2023, and he has since blossomed into a complete player who is as unselfish as he can be. The Spurs are thriving as a result, and it’s difficult to believe that Wembanyama is only 22 years of age.

Even Shaquille O’Neal, who is notoriously hard on his fellow big men as evidenced by his treatment of Dwight Howard and Rudy Gobert, just to name a few, has been fully convinced of how “perfect” the Spurs’ star big man is.

“I think Wemby is the first perfect big man that’s ever created. Can shoot, free throws, play defense, play offense, he’s a great team player. I’m happy for the Spurs, I’m happy for Wemby. He’s a joy to watch,” O’Neal said on Inside the NBA following the Spurs’ series-clinching win over the Blazers on Tuesday.