Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is about to force his way onto at least the fringes of the MVP conversation with the way he’s playing. To start the season, the only issues were the turnovers — which are still a problem, most notably when he puts the ball on the floor in crowds — and the 3-point shooting, which seemed excessive for a player of his 7-foot-3 size.
The latter has turned around in a major way. Since Dec. 1, Wembanyama is making 37% of his 3s on over nine attempts per game. Put that together with his 77% finishing rate at the rim, which Cleaning the Glass ranks in the 86th percentile among all bigs, and Wembanyama already ranks as one of the most dominant inside-out scorers in the league.
He showed off the full range of this all-level scoring repertoire with a pair of circus shots in San Antonio’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night.
First, it was a one-legged 3-pointer after he pump faked Andre Jackson Jr. into the front row.
What’s almost as crazy as a 7-foot-3 human being looking that fluid taking and making a 24-foot runner (which, to be fair, has become an increasingly popular shot these days but we’re usually seeing it from a smaller player with whom we more regularly associate such skill like Trae Young or LaMelo Ball) is the fact that Jackson was so worried about Wembanyama pulling up off the catch from 30-plus feet that he would react that extremely to the fake. It’s warranted. We’ve seen that Wembanyama has unlimited range and isn’t afraid to use it.
Next up was a show-and-go along the baseline into an up-and-under finish at the rim that qualifies as one of the toughest finishes you will ever see.
Here’s a closer look at the absurdity of this finish:
That is flat-out nuts for anyone, but for a player of Wemby’s size to go up and under from that angle and drop it clean through the net without using the backboard is almost unfathomable.
Honestly, it was likely an accident. There’s an element of Wembanyama getting caught in the air and just having to flip something up, but to have the sort of improvisational skill and feel to even get that kind of shot off, let alone make it, at 7-foot-3 shows you just how special Wembanyama is as a scorer who can dazzle defenses with theatrics whether inside or out.
