Victor Wembanyama's San Antonio Spurs teammates see what we see. Even more, they feel it. And in real time. Almost as if officially putting the NBA on notice, Devin Vassell isn't holding back after the Spurs blew out the Raptors 122-99 on Monday.
“He's a tremendous player and this is his rookie year so it's going to be scary to see his next three, four years, what he's going to look like, what our team chemistry is going to look like, what me and him playing in a duel is going to look like,” the Spurs' second leading scorer declared following Monday's win over the Raptors.
Victor Wembanyama's triple-double
With 27 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 blocks in Toronto, the top pick in this past summer's draft became the first rookie since fellow Spurs star big man David Robinson in 1990 to record a triple-double with blocks.
“He did a little bit of everything. Obviously, he's an all-around talented player. He's got a great feel for the game and it shows in a variety of ways, whether he's passing or making decisions, blocking shots, it doesn't matter,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
Asked whether a quadruple-double crossed his mind considering he finished with five assists, Wembanyama admitted he had one eye on the rarest of statistical achievements.
“As a second thought, yes, but I was trying to win first,” the French marvel answered.
Only four players in NBA history, including the aforementioned Robinson, have registered quadruple-doubles. As it stands, Wemby's performance against the Raptors marks the league's first triple-double with blocks, period, in more than three years.
“No, I never guess. Whatever they do, they do,” Popovich responded on whether he anticipated this kind of performance early on considering Wembanyama's strong start Monday night.
The 7-foot-4 generational prospect scored seven of the game's first ten and had 19 points by the half. For the game, he clocked just 29 minutes of action.
Devin Vassell's high praise for Wemby
Devin Vassell added 25 points in a win that broke the Spurs' seven-game losing streak. At 19 points per game, the fourth-year NBA guard is right behind Victor Wembanyama's 20.4 average for the season. He's glad his 20-year-old superstar teammate is behind him on the court.
“The way that he makes the game and how easy it is, I mean, I'm playing defense and I get beat, it's almost like, well, go ahead, just try him at this point. I know he's back there. He's got my back.”
For Wemby, it was just one of those days – one of the good ones, at least.
“For some reason, we felt great today. Had some great rhythm, started the game strong. I don't know, I guess it's just the NBA. We've got ups and downs in terms of shape and today was an up day,” Wembanyama continued. “There's just days where you feel like it and we've go to play off of this as well.”
Vassell is pointing to a time when success will come with much more frequency for the now 11-43 Spurs.
“It's interesting. It's special. We've got something good here, it's just we've got to put it all together and tonight it was a good implication of that.”
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