Two Summer League games and four preseason exhibitions later, the long-awaited official debut of Victor Wembanyama came Wednesday night. Plagued by foul trouble, the ballyhooed rookie scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in only 23 minutes of action during the San Antonio Spurs' hard-fought 126-119 loss to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. But more than half of those points came in a fourth quarter flurry that serves as the first of five big takeaways from Wemby's first NBA contest.
Wembanyama erupts in fourth quarter
When Wemby scored his first fourth quarter points, the alley-oop brought the Spurs within five with 6:57 remaining. By the time he went around a double screen to knock down a mid range jumper outside the left block, the game was tied. The nine points in three minutes gave a glimpse as to why he's the most touted prospect since LeBron James.
Foul trouble could be an issue going forward
The fact that he's a physical player, per se, doesn't mean Wembanyama is likely to avoid foul trouble. Two infractions in the opening quarter, a fourth foul with 8:37 left in the third and a fifth whistle early in the fourth meant the French phenom saw plenty more of the bench than he would've liked.
Wembanyama is silky smooth
Wembanyama's silky smooth game translated in his first NBA game. He went 6-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. He moves well without the ball, evidenced by the way he rolled to the basket for the aforementioned alley-oop, ran the break on a transition dunk and used screens effectively on the bucket that tied the game before Doncic took over late.
19-year-old is poised beyond his years
Wembanyama lets the game come to him. His first ever points came more than three-and-a-half minutes into the game. That doesn't seem like an eternity, but when you're 7'4 or 7'5 (does it really matter?), you're hard to miss on a single possession — especially in your first official game. In crunch time, despite getting on a roll, Wembanyama didn't demonstratively call for the ball when his team needed points. Which leads to our final takeaway…
Wembanyama will be a star…even as a rookie
So he didn't score 30 points, grab 20 rebounds and block 10 shots, nor did he score the game-wining bucket. Wembanyama is 19 years old. And, with an opponent who's a potential league MVP, he almost stole the show in his first ever taste of real NBA basketball. Perhaps, this is the biggest takeaway…Wembanyama is going to be pretty, pretty good, even as a rookie.
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