Victor Wembanyama Keeps Doing Insane Shit, This Time Becoming The Youngest Player In NBA History To Ever Have A 5x5

Sean M. Haffey. Getty Images.

Without a doubt, one of the best parts of this NBA season has been watching Victor Wembanyama back up all of his hype prior t entering the league. It doesn't matter if the Spurs are rebuilding and playing some pretty gross basketball, you can't help but watch Wemby. I know we throw the term "must watch" around a lot, but not only is he must watch, it's also been that way since the first second Wemby stepped onto an NBA court. 

Take Friday night for example. As I've blogged many times before, I'm a sucker for witnessing NBA history. That's the beauty of watching every night, there's always a chance you could witness something nobody has ever seen before in the history of the league. With players like Wemby now existing, it's almost a guarantee.

I dunno about anyone else, but I love a good 5x5. That's a special type of impact that you don't exactly see that often. In fact, the last 5x5 we saw came back in 2019. With his 5x5, Wemby tied Jamaal Tinsley (what a throwback) as the only rookies to ever do it, and Wemby also becomes the only player in NBA history who averaged a 5x5 over a two game stretch since the league starter recording blocks in the 70s. The fact that his minutes were the fewest played of any 5x5 game makes this even more ridiculous.

I mean God damn.

It did sort of feel like a 5x5 was on the horizon for Wemby if you've been watching him all year. He's had a handful of games where he's flirted with 5x4s or 5x3s and in his previous game on Thursday night he had 19/13/4/5/5, missing a 5x5 by just 1 assist. Nobody could make that last bucket for the guy? Brutal. 

He also had 30/16/2/3/6 the last time he played the Lakers, so it makes sense that when you combine those two things, you get what we saw last night. The craziest part of all of it was probably the fact that it felt pretty normal. If I had to choose from a list of players who I thought could pull off a 5x5, Wemby is definitely high on that list. The fact that's where your brain can go with a guy who has only played 51 career games is pretty nuts. 

What I want you to now do is take a step back and remember where we were last June. The hype around Wemby was that he was this generational player, that if he stayed healthy had the potential or ceiling of flirting with being an all time great. It was crazy to say at the time, but that's essentially what the takeaway was when it came to Wemby as a prospect. Now fast forward to today, think of all the crazy shit you've seen and all the NBA history he's already making. What if this truly is the start of something special? Yeah the Spurs can't win a game to save their lives, but that's whatever. What matters is that Wemby is the real fucking deal, and this is probably the worst he's ever going to be.

Pair that skillset with a mindset like this

and we very easily could have an all time player on our hands. It's like when we first saw LeBron and you just knew if he stayed healthy we were in for something special. What I mean by that is plenty of #1 picks have had good first years and shown to be worthy of being the top pick, but sometimes a #1 pick makes it beyond clear that you're dealing with a different level of talent. So far that's exactly what Wemby has shown.