The NBA’s Christmas Day slate got off to a tremendous start with the hard-fought battle between the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks. The Knicks were able to claw their way to a 117-114 victory behind 41 points from Mikal Bridges. However, the Spurs didn’t walk away feeling like there was coal in their stockings, as franchise star Victor Wembanyama had an all-time great performance.Victor Wembanyama Is The New Generation’s Wilt Chamberlain
In what was his first Christmas Day game, the 2023 No. 1 pick tallied 42 points, 18 rebounds, four assists, four blocks, and one steal in 40 minutes. He now joins Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain and Hall of Fame wing Tracy McGrady as the only players to score at least 40 points in the Christmas Day debut.
He’s the first player to record at least 40 points, 15 rebounds, and five made three-pointers on Christmas Day.
Lastly, Wembanyama was the first player in NBA history to record at least 40 points, 15 rebounds, 5 made three-pointers and 4 blocks in any game (h/t X’s NBA History account).
Too Good To Be True
At this point, the 20-year-old is the new Chamberlain, who dominated the NBA throughout the 1960s. As the league has changed, Wembanyama’s emphasis is on having a soft touch at 7-foot-3 and 209 pounds. Chamberlain’s was on being a man amongst men at 7-foot-1 and 275 pounds. Regardless, the results have been the same so far.
Their numbers are so incredible that they’re unfathomable.
Chamberlain’s excellence resulted in feats like a 100-point effort against the New York Knicks in 1962. Many fans still don’t believe he accomplished this because there wasn’t footage of the game, just a live radio broadcast. The Big Dipper also recorded a 50-point and 25-rebound season in 1961-62. In fact, he has the single-season record for the highest scoring average (50.4) and rebounding average (27.2).
He’s also credited as the first and only player with a quintuple-double. Like other records associated with Chamberlain, this is disputed. However, Chamberlain was able to score around the rim or away from the basket. He constantly created chances for his teammates. In the paint, he was all but an indomitable rebounder. As a shot-blocker, he was fearsome.
Even if the stats are hard to believe, he had the tools necessary to record a quintuple-double.
Wembanyama has already recorded multiple 5×5 games, so a quintuple-double isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
With his inside-outside scoring ability, he’s a constant scoring threat. He’s a studious player with a high basketball IQ, which has helped him become an above-average facilitator, especially at his position. He’s an incredibly disruptive defender even when he’s not in the paint. Last but not least, he’s hard to keep off the boards.
Honestly, though? Even if he never gets a quintuple-double, he’s already putting up the type of stats that people won’t be able to believe 50 years from now.
With Wembanyama’s Christmas special, fans were treated to more than a rare performance.
Numbers aside, he looked like the future of the NBA. There’s a legitimate conversation to be had about his shot-selection and the Spurs haven’t shied away from it. All the same, guard skills are now a misnomer. As Wembanyama has shown, players who are 7-foot-3 can now score off-the-dribble, even knocking down deep threes.
He’s the future of the NBA not just because he has the potential to be the best player in the league but because he epitomizes the evolution of basketball. If the Frenchman is the one who takes the baton from LeBron James as the face of the NBA, the league will be in a far better place than the current discourse about it’s ratings suggests. Rather than being a league where players do only one thing, many will be able to do just about everything.
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