LAS VEGAS (AP) — Final numbers for Victor Wimpanyama in his Summer League debut: Nine points on 2-for-13 shooting, eight rebounds, five blocked shots and three assists.
Not on the stat sheet: countless photos and videos taken on phones, dozens of times he praised his teammates, all the autographs signed by super-friendly San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich at halftime for kids and other fans.
Wemby Show is underway. The score Friday night doesn’t matter much and will be forgotten in the next couple of days – for the record, the Spurs beat the Charlotte Hornets 76-68. But for the 17,500 people who bought tickets, most of them just to say they saw Wimbanyama sweat for the first time in a Tottenham game kit, it was a night to remember.
A memorable night for first choice too.
“A special moment,” Wimpanyama said. “Really special to wear this jersey for the first time. It is really an honor.”
Wembanyama has done a lot of things well, which can’t come as a surprise. He checked well. It passed so well he even had a left-handed hoe pass to help. drive well sometimes; Charlotte’s second overall in the draft, Brandon Miller, attempted a three-pointer from about five or six feet behind the arc in the first half, and Wimpanyama threw his left arm skyward and easily stopped him. His four-point play with 2:50 left put the Spurs up by 14, nearly sealing the win.
“He’s a legit 7-6,” Miller then said, exaggerating only slightly at Wembanyama’s official height of 7 feet, 3-1/2 inches. “Victor is a great guy, great off the field. He’s going to have a great career, and just to see him step up to meet the challenge, I think that shows a lot of heart.”
Wembanyama struggled with shooting and blocked two 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter, was swept out of the way on some rebound opportunities, and was kind of overwhelmed when he was trying to defend a lob for Charlotte’s man Kay Jones – Wembanyama couldn’t reach him, and Jones was fouled when he threw the ball down — and he had a lot of moments to learn from in the movie.
“Overall, I think he’s done a good job. … you can see his basketball IQ is elite,” Spurs summer coach Matt Nielsen said.
Again, none of it mattered much, good or bad. Wimpanyama’s body of work in France over the past three years has further demonstrated his enormous potential. A 30-point game or a 0-for-30 game on Friday night won’t change anything.
Hundreds of phones were pointed at the tunnel where he had gone out for a six-minute warm-up before the game. Some tickets have gone for more than $200 on the resale market; This is very unheard of in the summer league. Fans wearing Tottenham jerseys – obviously new jerseys, since they had the Wimpanyama name on them – started showing up inside the stadium a couple of games before the Tottenham Hornets game just to make sure they got a good seat. No. 3 draft pick Scott Henderson played in Portland’s previous game. He went out and stood on the field for some of the second half of the Tottenham game.
“I’m glad so many people can see us play,” Wimpanyama said.
Jerry West was courtside, as was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who will join Wimpanyama onstage at the NBA on Saturday for a conversation between a legend and someone destined to become a legend.
The numbers don’t matter. Wembanyama overwhelmed everyone. And everything.
Like Jabari Smith Jr. And Tari Eason, for example. They combined to finish a miracle to give Houston a 100-99 win over Portland in the game just before the Spurs Hornets. Down by 2 with 0.6 seconds left, Eason made a pass about 40 feet to Smith, who turned and hit the 3-pointer clock at the buzzer. Everyone celebrated, some because of Smith’s shot, some because the game was over and it was Wimpy’s time. It would have been the talk of the summer league, under normal circumstances.
These are not normal conditions.
And on the adjacent court—UNLV has two separate sports halls under one roof—Cleveland and Brooklyn were playing simultaneously as Wimpanyama made its debut. Let’s just say there were more than a few empty seats in the gymnasium for that game; Only the most ardent Cavaliers fans, Nets fans or friends and family of players on those lists seemed to be there for it. Meanwhile, a few feet away in the large gymnasium, fans were sitting all the way up to the rafters.
The first appearance was a circus. Everyone expected that to be the case, and that was even before he went to dinner on Wednesday night and it was Get close to Britney Spears – A pop star who snatched or sneered in Wembanyama and launched a two-day story that generated tons of headlines around the world. He handled it all with ease, not knowing until hours later that Spears was the one involved, and he handled all the attention on Friday night with ease, too.
“He’s fantastic,” said his Tottenham teammate Julien Champagne, later adding, “He deserves this moment.”
He is a beginner. So tall, so talented. He’s going to have great games in San Antonio. He will have bad games. He has now played his first match. His story in the NBA is underway. Tottenham are betting that it only gets better from here.
Wimpanyama said, “I just want to get better every time, and learn as much as I can.”
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Tim Reynolds is a national basketball writer for the Associated Press. Write to him at treynolds(at)ap.org
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