No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama is off to a strong start in his NBA career, putting up tremendous individual numbers even amid the struggles of the San Antonio Spurs. While Wembanyama has relative issues with shooting efficiency, he is already one of the NBA’s best shot blockers and rebounders. From there, Wembanyama seems to generate a play (or multiple plays) each night that simply cannot be replicated by anyone else. Once again, that happened on Thursday when the Spurs took on Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and Milwaukee Bucks on national television.
First, Wembanyama avoided a traveling call by throwing the ball off the backboard to himself for an unbelievable dunk. Then, just moments later, he uncorked another mesmerizing play in transition, going behind his back around Lillard and finishing a dunk despite being fouled from behind by Brook Lopez.
OH MY GOODNESS WEMBY 😱
Bucks-Spurs on TNT pic.twitter.com/6lHbOH3cr3
— NBA (@NBA) January 5, 2024
Obviously, Wembanyama’s combination of measurements and athleticism is otherworldly, but he also makes this kind of thing look easy. The way he glides can be deceiving and, in this instance, he seemed to almost zoom to the rim using only a few steps.
After the play happened, everyone watching likely felt like TNT analyst Reggie Miller, who simply laughed maniacally while saying “Are you kidding me?” as Wembanyama celebrated the dunk. There will be many more plays like this for Wembanyama and, in this particular spot, the play also took place on his 20th birthday.