San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama hasn't played in two of the team's preseason contests ahead of the 2024-25 NBA campaign. Perhaps representative of the stark difference from this time last year, Wemby's absence on Saturday night against the Utah Jazz came five nights after he missed the exhibition opener vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Leading up to the games, when asked how much he thought he'd play, the reigning unanimous Rookie of the Year answered the question with one of his own.
“How much did I play last season?”
When the reporter who asked the question said he wasn't sure, Wemby jokingly countered by saying, “I can't answer that,” in estimating how much he'll play leading up to the regular season.
Victor Wembanyama's lone preseason appearance thus far
The 20-year-old phenom played 23 minutes, scoring 11 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking three shots in a 107-97 victory against the Orlando Magic. He also had four assists that night, which represented the Spurs' second preseason game.
“Just getting back in the habits. It's been five, six months maybe since I've played this game. Today was the day to experiment on this,” the Spurs center said, referring to last year's regular season finale.
Gregg Popovich alluded to Wemby looking good despite not having played in game action since France's Olympic gold medal loss to the United States in August.
“Victor and Chris [Paul] got to play and play with each other a little bit. That's good. Decent night,”
Late in that first quarter against the Magic, the newly acquired Paul and Wemby teamed up for a play that San Antonio fans had envisioned since they added the future Hall of Famer at the beginning of free agency.
“Felt very natural. Felt like a good play and he's making a lot of good plays,” Wembanyama said of an alley-oop from the 39-year-old point guard.
“It feels really good to play with him. In this preseason, we're going to try to experiment as much as we can on the pick and roll. That's for sure,” Wemby continued.
Wemby not sure what preseason holds
This October marks a stark contrast from this time 12 months ago for Wembanyama.
“The difference with last year is it was my very first experience. Really, I was running around doing a bunch of stuff,” the Spurs returning leading scorer said.
“Now, we're trying to set a winning culture early this year. We want to start the year strong, we don't want to be 50, 60 games in to lock in. It starts in the preseason. Of course, I want to be a part of it and help my team the best I can.”
How much Wemby plays in the remaining exhibition games, both of which come on the road, remains to be seen as a franchise used to excellence strives closer to a return to prominence.
“It also means we're going to be less loose on the mistakes, the rookie mistakes. We had one year, coach gave me one year to figure out a little bit more about my game. Now it's time to be held to certain standards.”
How much that involves the preseason is the question.