Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama names the 2 hardest players to defend in NBA

San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama certainly lived up to expectations in Year 1 and will head into his first NBA offseason happy with how things unfolded. Wemby will win Rookie of the Year and profiles to be the future of this franchise.

Recently, the Frenchman made an appearance on The Ringer’s NBA show with Kevin O’Connor and was asked who the toughest players were to guard in the Association. His answers? Well, not a huge surprise:

“Kevin Durant is up there, Jokic as well, even though after each game I’ve played him I feel like I defended him better and better, and read his game better and better. But I mean I just know he’s gonna come next year with new weapons, new tricks.”

O’Connor asked Wembanyama to reveal his tactics against Embiid in particular, but he wouldn’t:

“No I really don’t want to, I think it’s simpler than you might expect. What didn’t work was, Embiid’s midrange is just so great at the nail that you have to choose what you want him to do. You have to give him some options and deny. Something I didn’t do was be the first to make the contact. One time he like bumped into me and like with the momentum I can’t stop him so he just had an easy dunk.”

Durant is a cold-blooded scorer while Jokic is a versatile weapon. Embiid is also such a force and Wemby is still learning how to contain him.

Victor Wembanyama on track for stardom

The hype was real for Wemby ahead of the 2023 NBA Draft. There hadn’t been this much coverage of a young prospect since LeBron James over 20 years ago. And while Wembanyama did struggle at times, overall he was very solid.

The youngster finished the 2023-24 campaign with averages of 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.2 steals on 46.5% shooting from the field. Not bad for a 20-year-old. When he did face Jokic in the last two meetings with Denver, Wemby showed out, dropping 34 and 23 points, respectively. Since Embiid was hurt for quite a long period, they only clashed once and while the Cameroonian put up a 70-piece, Wembanyama had 33 of his own.

Sure, he needs to put on muscle so he can bang more with big bodies in the Association, but Victor Wembanyama is certainly on the right track. He broke several records in his rookie campaign as well, including becoming the first rookie to post a 40-point, 20-rebound double double last month. Wemby also put himself in the Spurs record books, joining Tim Duncan and David Robinson as the only other rookie to record eight blocks in a game. That’s just a glimpse into what he did this season.

Although his brilliance didn’t translate to wins for San Antonio who finished with a 22-60 record, there’s no questioning Wemby’s talent. In the interview with O’Connor, Wembanyama pinpointed catch and shoot 3’s as a specific area he’d like to improve:

“I feel way more comfortable when I have some momentum,” Wembanyama said. “Sometimes when I just catch and shoot with no dribble, I just feel like my arms are so low. My hands are so big, I feel like I’m stuck in a box. You know how Wilt Chamberlain was very bad at free throws? He was so good at hook shots and running finger rolls because he had momentum. … I feel kind of the same because there’s so much going on with such a small basketball, and so I feel way more comfortable when I can flow into my shot by being in movement already.”

Victor Wembanyama shot just 32% from downtown, but as we’ve seen as times, he can get hot and make it rain. If the big man can become a consistent threat from long range, it’s only going to make his game even scarier.