A little more than two months after his arrival in the NBA, an additional handful since he lived in the United States, Victor Wembanyama is no longer a “teenager” in the American sense of the term. Celebrating his 20th birthday this Thursday, January 4, the Frenchman is now moving up to the big boys but has already shown his immense talent. Like others before their 20th spring.

Why Victor Wembanyama is the next NBA star

Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal or Stephen Curry, all these NBA legends did not have the chance to enter the league before their 20s. Another time, other customs obviously for the former, a long university course for the latter.

But others, like Victor Wembanyama, who is celebrating his 20th birthday this Thursday, arrived there and shone very early, raising the highest expectations for themselves. We sought to compare the interior of the San Antonio Spurs to some of its more famous predecessors.

At 19 years and 294 days, Victor Wembanyama was far from Andrew Bynum’s record (18 years and 6 days) for his NBA debut. Also, comparing “Wemby” totals doesn’t make much sense.

His 29 matches played before turning 20 weigh very little compared to, for example, Tony Parker’s 77, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 98, LeBron James’ 108 or Kobe Bryant’s 150, a benchmark in the field.

Also with 548 points scored, he is a very good distance from James’ record (2,362) and is behind Luka Doncic (1,194), Bryant (1,759) and even Antetokounmpo (770) or Parker (705). On the other hand, his average already puts him very high in NBA history.

AVERAGE POINTS

With his 18.9 points average, Victor Wembanyama ranks 10th in the category, far behind Lamar Odom but also behind LeBron James, Luka Doncic or Kevin Durant. On the other hand, he does much better than players like Kobe Bryant (11.7), Anthony Davis (12.9), Giannis Antetokounmpo (7.9) or to go further Kevin Garnett (10.4). They arrived in the NBA with a good reputation (with the exception of Giannis) but also the certainty of not being completely ready, like the Frenchman.

Victor Wembanyama: 18.9 points
The reference: Lamar Odom and his 23.7 points (but only 3 matches)
The comparison
LeBron James: 21.9
Luka Doncic: 20.9
Kevin Durant: 20.3
Kobe Bryant: 11.7
Tony Parker: 9.2

PERSONAL RECORD

By scoring 38 points in his fifth game, Wembanyama impressed the NBA. This total places him in the historic Top 10 of the category but in sixth place if we only keep the best performance for each of his rivals.

The Frenchman is, with Cliff Robinson, the only inside of the Top 10 in which we often find LeBron James (43, 41 and 40). Interestingly, the Frenchman’s 34 minutes of play against the Suns are the lowest playing time in the Top 10.
Victor Wembanyama: 38
The reference: Cliff Robinson and his 45 points with the Nets against the Pistons in 1980
The comparison
LeBron James: 43
Kevin Durant: 42
Kobe Bryant: 33
Dwight Howard: 28
Anthony Davis: 28

AVERAGE REBOUNDS

This is real satisfaction for Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. At 2.24 m tall, the Frenchman is supposed to grab a maximum of rebounds but he managed to transform his French averages into the NBA. His 10.2 catches put him in 12th place this season but beyond that he is one of the best in the field for under-20s, on the podium itself and very close to the best.
Victor Wembanyama: 10.2 rebounds
The reference: Dwight Howard and his 10.6 rebounds
The comparison
Dwight Howard: 10.6
Karl-Anthony Towns: 10.3
Anthony Davis: 7.8
Andre Drummond: 7.6
Kevin Garnett: 6.3

AVERAGE COUNTERS

If we had offensive expectations around Victor Wembanyama, many observers said that his defensive qualities would make more of a difference, especially at the start of his career.

From this point of view, the interior of the Spurs cannot be missed. His size, wingspan and mobility make him a nightmare for those who want to attack San Antonio’s racket.

Many players and coaches have already talked about it, like Zion Williamson: “His presence alone can change shots. He has long arms, is so tall. So just the fact that he is there changes the offense.” A hell of a compliment for the best blocker in the NBA.

His presence alone can alter a lot of shots. He has long arms, is tall, so just his presence alone can affect the offense on the other side.”
Victor Wembanyama: 3.1 (91 blocks in total