Victor Wembanyama Put On An Absolute Show In His Homecoming In Paris Including Throwing Himself More Alley-Oops Off The Backboard

FRANCK FIFE. Getty Images.

Before we dive in, can I just say how awesome it is to have daytime basketball? It doesn't matter what level is, daytime hoops rules. It can be the NCAA tournament, the NBA games on MLK day, or a unique game like today between the Spurs and Pacers in Paris for the Paris Games, having basketball on while the sun is up always hits. I know there's no way to make this a real thing outside of those instances mentioned above if the games don't take place on a weekend, but weekday day games of basketball get a huge thumbs up from yours truly. This is especially true for any of the stoolies out there stuck in the cubes who need something to get through the day. 

Anyway, we're here to discuss the latest example of Victor Wembanyama being a complete basketball force. To no surprise with his return home, you knew he would bust out all the stops and give the people what they wanted to see. If we've learned one thing about Wemby so far in his young NBA career, it's that he always seems to rise to the occasion whenever he finds himself in a big time game or a big time matchup, and today was no different

A 30/11/6/5 with 4 3PM isn't all that of a surprising line for Wemby, it's actually more of the norm. Two way dominance is what this guy does, night in and night out regardless of opponent.

What stands out from this dominant showing of course, is the fact that Wemby continues to do things on a basketball court that should not be possible for a player of his size. Sometimes that's one legged 3PM, other times it's freak blocks, and every once in a while you'll get the old "lob it to himself off the backboard" play

Again, this is a 7'3 center who started the possession by putting the ball on the floor and attacking from the top of the arc, which without a sliver of hesitation turned into a euro-step of course starting at the top of the circle, which turned into an underhanded lob off the backboard to himself resulting in an easy dunk. 

Quick question, how many centers are making this play? Scratch that, how many NBA players total are doing something like this?

I will say, we are starting to see the super athletic players pull off moves like this. Ant has done it a few times, Chet has one, and then there's Wemby who is starting to make this a legitimate weapon in his arsenal. I'll remind you, he also pulled off this play last January 

We're at the point with Wemby where on some level nothing he does on the court should surprise us, yet every time he does something insane it makes you shake your head and laugh that a player like him even exists. It's only taken around 100 or so games, but I think we've truly entered into "must watch" territory when it comes to Wemby. I'd go so far as to say there are only a handful of players like that in the entire NBA. Guys like Jokic, Steph, Wemby, Ja, etc, players who truly do things on a nightly basis that break your brain and are so electric you have to keep your eyes on them at all times when they're on the floor. 

Given their 140-110 win, the Spurs are in an interesting spot. You could argue that they are still ahead of schedule and that everything happening in Year 2 for Wemby is a bonus. The team is better, and this is all part of the normal rebuilding process. But you could also argue that he's such an impactful two-way player, with the Spurs just 1 game out of the Play In and just 3 games out of a top 3 seed, should they be buyers at the deadline? Maybe they end up making the Play In as constructed and you save your assets for a different move in the summer once you have a full year of evaluation, but nothing helps speed up development in my opinion than playoff reps, even if you get swept. Those games and situations matter, especially for your young as shit franchise player. The sooner you expose him to those environments and those pressures and how defenses ramp up at that time of the year, the better he'll be in the long run.

That's partly what makes this next era so much fun. It'll be a transition for the league to get past the LeBron/KD/Steph era, but between guys like Jokic, Giannis, Tatum, SGA, Luka, Ant, Wemby etc, it's hard to argue the future doesn't look bright as hell.