The Victor Wembanyama era has finally begun in the National Basketball Association — the French phenom was excellent in his Spurs debut on Wednesday night, scoring 15 points in 23 minutes in a losing effort against the Dallas Mavericks.

Despite San Antonio falling 126-119, Wembanyama's debut drew high praise from across the basketball world — including from former NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce.

“Everybody knows there's a difference from preseason and regular season. I was thoroughly impressed with the minutes that he gave me,” Pierce said when asked to describe Wembanyama's regular-season debut on Undisputed Thursday.

“At the beginning I was like, he's going through some growing pains, foul trouble, he has to get used to the NBA refereeing and the physicality, but then he had like a Zion like debut in the fourth quarter…it looked like he was about to will his team to victory. I mean, he came in, knocked down some threes, blocked some shots.”

But it was the defensive side of the game where Pierce was most impressed with Wembanyama.

“This guy, in my opinion, he can be the Rookie of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year, all in the same year, this year, he has that type of potential,” Pierce asserted while breaking down one of Wembanyama's defensive plays.

“When I watch him, you can't score on this guy one-on-one, he can guard one through five, we watched him guard Kyrie right here! The shots that he's not blocking, he's altering, he's discouraging guys from going at the rim and shooting layups. It's impressive the type of impact he has on that side of the ball, and he's still wet behind the ears. He doesn't know the NBA game yet, and he's been that impressive.”

It's a glowing review from a legend of the game to a player who undoubtably has those aspirations after garnering as much hype as LeBron James did when he first entered the league.

Although Victor Wembanyama only played 23 minutes for the Spurs on Wednesday night, it's expected those minutes will continue to ramp up during the season for, already, one of the game's most exciting talents.