The Portland Trail Blazers were without their top-two centers on Thursday with Deandre Ayton and Duop Reath both nursing nagging injuries. There's never a good night for that to happen, but Portland happened to be going up against the Spurs' generational youngster Victor Wembanyama.

While, predictably, Wemby dominated the Blazers in San Antonio's 118-105 win, there was a positive to come out of the game for Portland – the emergence of Ibou Badji.

Badji, a 7-foot-1 21-year-old from Senegal came to the Blazers shortly into last season on a two-way contract. He's only been playing basketball for six years and took an unconventional path to the NBA that began at a youth academy and passed through lower-level Spanish leagues and the G League before his 7'9″ wingspan and athleticism landed him in Portland on a developmental deal.

After playing in the G-League and working on his game for more than a year, Badji made his NBA debut on Tuesday in the Blazers 130-113 win over the Sacramento Kings. Badji didn't notch any official stats in his 1:56 of garbage time, but making his NBA debut marked a significant milestone for the young center.

On Thursday, with Moses Brown as the only other true center active for the Blazers, Badji got to see 14 minutes of real NBA action. Going up against Wembanyama could have been a ‘Welcome to the NBA' moment for Badji, but the Blazers' rookie was up to the challenge. Badji scored 7 points, grabbed 9 rebounds (5 offensive), and had 3 blocks, including a pair of monster rejections:

Said Badji on his huge rejection against former Blazers player Zach Collins, “He didn't know. He didn't know before he [went]. But he'll be careful tomorrow. If he doesn't want me to get that block, he better go up strong.”

After the game, Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was proud of Badji shining in his first real NBA minutes.

“He's growing,” said Billups. “Ibou is really, really growing in front of us, and this is what we envisioned for him, having him as a two-way and then bringing him along. He's a big-time shot blocker, you saw that tonight. But not only that, he goes and gets 9 rebounds. He's active, he's a live body. He tries his behind off. So, I was really happy and proud of Ibou in this game today. That's what we've been envisioning for him.”

The two teams face off again Friday night at Moda Center. Should Ayton and Reath be unable to play for the Blazers, expect Badji to see more run. If not, know that he'll continue to put in the work.