Victor Wembanyama’s first 3 Spurs weeks: The good, the bad, the ugly

Spurs fans have seen the highs and the lows in the first three weeks of rookie Victor Wembanyama’s career.

Perhaps most telling about Victor Wembanyama’s first three weeks in the NBA is that the games that don’t qualify as good, don’t do so because they weren’t great. He scored 18 in a 115-114 October 31 win at Phoenix, put up 20 but didn’t get the ball down the stretch in an overtime loss to the Toronto Raptors that started this six-game losing streak. The San Antonio Spurs did try to find him in the fourth quarter a week later, but to no avail, resulting in 18 modest points in a loss to the Miami Heat.

With 18.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game, Wemby’s has almost certainly lived up to the hype. If he hasn’t, he certainly hasn’t disappointed.

The good

The first one is easy. The Phoenix Suns were full throttle on their way back in an epic rally. They had erased all of a 27-point deficit in front of a frenzied Footprint Center crowd. The Spurs were without their leading scorer, Devin Vassell, at the time. What came next was a moment analysts and local fans will point to when it’s time to examine the phenom’s career. 10 points late in the fourth quarter, a whopping 38 for the game, to out-duel both Kevin Durant and Devin Booker and lead San Antonio to a second straight victory in Phoenix.

That a late basket that sent a game into overtime doesn’t rank as Wemby’s best moment speaks to how he’s started his career. The bucket with :20 remaining vs. the Houston Rockets was part of a 21 point, 12 rebound effort that came in just his second NBA game and his first victory in the league.

In the Spurs In-Season Tournament opener, a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the 7’4 marvel put together a stat-stuffing performance with 29 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 assists.

The bad

Victor Wembanyama’s rude awakening to the NBA game came in his third game. In an outcome that would foreshadow most of these first three weeks, the 19-year-old star tallied just 11 points in a 40-point whooping at the Los Angeles Clippers. A huge setback to the Indiana Pacers eight days later yielded similar results. Wemby scored 13 in a 152-111 blowout in Indianapolis.

The ugly

It’s fair to state that Victor Wembanyama’s three most anticipated games to this point have produced his two worst outings and the third had some ugly elements to it. In his first appearance at the arena that’s produced many memorable debuts, Wemby missed all four of his three-pint attempts as part of a 4-14 performance at Madison Square Garden.

But that 21-point loss paled in comparison to what was supposed represent a rookie showdown. In his first official meeting with 2022 second overall pick and fellow seven-footer Chet Holmgren, Wembanyama failed to reach double figures in points for the first time in his young career. Holmgren, who missed all of last season with injury, fared only a point better with nine.

Though Wemby briefly dazzled with more than half of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, constant foul trouble in his highly hyped NBA debut limited him to just 23 minutes in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

In the end – as much as there can be one this early – to use a word that describes the majority of his first three weeks in the NBA, Wembanyama appears to be in “good” shape for the season’s first Rookie of the Month recognition as we enter the back half of November.