Victor Wembanyama did a little bit of everything in a solid NBA debut for the Spurs. The French rookie had 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 2 steals in his 23-minute debut. However, he also struggled with turnovers and fouls, picking up five of each. “Lots of emotions for sure. But it would have been perfect with a win,” Wembanyama said after the game. “It might be frustrating, but always keeping your heads up is good for my teammates. I can’t show it on the court, and we learn every day,” he added.
His performance was also praised by head coach Gregg Popovich. “One of the toughest things for a player is to get into foul trouble. You never get into a rhythm, you’re in and out of the game and that sort of thing. I thought his maturity showed, even at a young age, where he came in with the last seven minutes and just played. We ran some stuff for him, he executed where a lot of guys would have been totally out of it by then because, as you said, were in foul trouble and didn’t get the rhythm. I thought he had a wonderful outing considering that,” Coach Pop noted.
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Wembanyama Impresses But Spurs Lose Late
Despite Wembanyama’s strong showing, the Spurs couldn’t hold on to their early lead. A combined 55 points from Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving helped the Mavericks pull away late in the all-Texas affair. Dončić ended the night on a triple-double with 33 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. The Mavs star also had high praise for the rookie. “He has obviously the size, obviously like everybody talks, but the way he moves for 7-5, 7-6 — I don’t know what it is, sorry — but he moves incredible. He moves like a point guard almost. So it’s pretty amazing to see him. He’s going to have a great future, and it’s going to be amazing to watch,” Dončić said.
However, Devin Vassell, who led the Spurs with 23 points, said the team expects Wembanyama to only get greater. “We’re all figuring each other out. We’re all figuring out Wemby. He’s figuring us out. We just got to figure out how to play as a team and make sure that the game is easy for him and he doesn’t have to do as much as he has to do on iso situations and just getting him easy lobs, easy looks to get him going. He demands so much attention. If they are double-teaming him, we have to be able to cut and make certain plays out of that.”
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