Victor Wembanyama Raising an Impossibly High Ceiling

Wembanyama is the first rookie to have a 40-20 game since Shaquille O’Neal.

Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama put on masterful performances during Friday night’s New York Knicks-San Antonio Spurs contest. When the dust settled after 53 thrilling minutes of basketball the rookie phenom’s side was able to emerge with a 130-126 victory. Brunson finished with 61 points, one shy of the franchise record. Wembanyama scored 40 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and handed out seven assists. He’s the first NBA rookie to post a 40-20 game since another No. 1 overall pick — Shaquille O’Neal — accomplished the feat in 1993.

The 40 points are a career-high for Wembanyama, who has averaged 21.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and a league-leading 3.4 blocks per game in his debut season. His stats obviously don’t tell the full story of how much he impacts the game or how he will impact the game because the true measure can’t be quantified right now. And trying to do that sort of misses the point because, there is something profoundly joyful and legitimately amazing watching a 7-foot-4 player do the things he can do on the basketball court.

San Antonio was always going to be playing for next year — and the years after that — as their prized 20-year-old acclimated to the league. It’s not important to the organization’s big picture what type of numbers Wembanyama puts up this season or how many games the Spurs win. Any questions that may have existed about his slight frame handling heightened physicality have been answered and it’s worth debating if he is ahead of schedule. When he does something that hasn’t been done by a first-year player since O’Neal while impacting the game even more on the defensive end of the floor, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that he could be the best player on a legitimate playoff team in 2025.

It’s also interesting to consider Wembanyama walking in Shaq’s enormous shoes. He’s the best big man prospect since O’Neal entered the league and though they couldn’t be more different in terms of body shape and style of game, both are likely to end up revolutionizing the game. For longtime fans of the league it’s fun to see how it’s evolved in the last 30 years and Wembanaya is the perfect paint brush for that picture.

Kyle Koster is an editor at The Big Lead.