History: Victor Wembanyama continues to live up to expectations in his first season, making 5×5.
Wembanyama is the first player in history to have 150 blocks, 150 assists, and 75 made 3-pointers in a single seasonโand it’s not even March yet. Wembanyama scored 27 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked 10 shots, dished out five assists, and stole two rebounds on 71% shooting against the Raptors just before the All-Star break. No other player in history has achieved those goals in a single game.
Now, in his second game following the All-Star break, Wembanyama has joined the elite 5×5 club, which is limited to the youngest players ever (and just the 15th overall). To be eligible, a player must register at least five points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks in a single game.
In the fewest minutes ever on Friday night during a defeat to the Lakers, he accomplished it.
Jusuf Nurkic was the last player to record a 5×5 game in 2019. Only Jamaal Tinsley in 2001 was a rookie who managed to pull it off. Crazy enough, Wembanyama just needed one assist to skip a 5×5 game on Thursday against the Kings, where he finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks, five steals, and four assists.
Consider that. This guy, a 20-year-old rookie, almost accomplished something just 14 other players in history have ever accomplished on consecutive nights. He became the first player in history to record five steals and five blocks in consecutive games, joining Michael Jordan, but all he cares about is the result of the games, which San Antonio didn’t win.
Since LeBron James, Wembanyama was the most anticipated rookie when he joined the NBA. That he could live up to the anticipation right away seemed improbable. He’s actually surpassing it in some way.
He is on track to become the first rookie to lead the league in blocks since Manute Bol in 1986. Wembanyama has blossomed after the Spurs moved on from the Jeremey Sochan point guard experiment and started using him at center.
Wemby has averaged just under 23 points and 10 rebounds with 3.7 assists, 3.4 blocks, and 1.7 steals over the last 23 games since the beginning of January. With more than five attempts each game, he is shooting 49 percent, including 35 percent from three. It is absolutely insane that he is accomplishing this in just 27 minutes every game.
When those figures are extrapolated to once every 36 minutes, Wemby’s ledger looks like this: 30.1 points, 13 rebounds, 4.5 blocks, 1.8 steals, and 4.9 assists. After 36 minutes of play, this guy is almost exactly averaging a 5×5, for crying out loud.
Wembanyama may easily be argued to be the league’s most terrifying defensive player right now. In the face of such offensive volume, LeBron James declared on Friday that “he doesn’t have a ceiling.”
“He has the freedom to pursue his career as he pleases,” James remarked of Wembanyama. “…You got guys in our league that you have to account for any time you get around the rim or around the perimeter in our league history, and he sits right at the top, if not around the top, with all the greats.”