Spurs star Victor Wembanyama
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Victor Wembanyama was major catalyst in Spurs going 11-0 in February.
In just his third season, Victor Wembanyama has propelled the San Antonio Spurs to contender status in the Western Conference. As they continue their impressive hot streak, one former player gave his thoughts on the franchise’s newest cornerstone.
Given his size and versatile skill set, Wembanyama had a high bar set for him before even setting foot in the NBA. Still only 22 years old, he has lived up to expectations. Wembanyama is fresh off his second All-Star appearance and has led the Spurs to the second-best record in the Western Conference.
Since the start of February, the Spurs have been arguably the hottest team in the league. Before suffering a defeat at the hands of the New York Knicks, they were riding high on an 11-game win streak. Wembanyama put together multiple dominant showings in this stretch, including a 40-point eruption against the LA Lakers.
After posting an undefeated record in February, Perkins took to X (formerly Twitter) to give Wembanyama his flowers. He feels the star big man was a driving force in their recent success, dubbing him one of the faces of the next generation of NBA players.
While he’s missed some time, Wembanyama has been nothing short of dominant for the Spurs this season. Across 46 appearances, he is averaging 23.7 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 2.9 APG, and 2.9 BPG.
Victor Wembanyama Tips Cap to New York Knicks Following Blowout Loss
Unfortunately for the Spurs, their scorching-hot streak flamed out when the calendar flipped over to March. Despite getting a strong outing from Wembanyama (25 points, 13 rebounds), they suffered a 114-89 defeat in Madison Square Garden.
While speaking with the media postgame, Wembanyama displayed his high levels of maturity. Even though things didn’t go his team’s way, he was still able to give his opponent the credit they deserved. As the Spurs prepare for what they hope to be a long playoff run, he is grateful for the chance to get some experience facing another potential contender in a heightened atmosphere.
“We want to play the best team. This is a top seed team, playoff team, experienced,” Wembanyama said of the Knicks. “They know what it’s like and they gave us a good showing today.”
Following this loss, Wembanyama and the Spurs will look to regroup in a primetime matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 3rd.
Victor Wembanyama Lands in Top Five of Latest NBA MVP Tracker
As the regular season starts to wind down, the MVP discussion has started to heat up in the basketball world. Though a handful of players are viewed to be ahead of him at the moment, Wembanyama’s name has still be thrown around at times for the award.
Seeing that he is arguably the top two-way talent in the game right now, Wembanyama has the counting stats to have his name brought up in such conversations. On top of this, he’s led his team to second place in what many consider the tougher conference. That said, when it comes to Wembanyama’s MVP case, reaching the 65-game mark could be a major roadblock in his chances.
On Monday, Basketball Reference updated its MVP tracker. Wembanyama landed in the top five, but only has a 1% probability of taking home the hardware. Those ahead of him are Luka Doncic, Cade Cunningham, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Nikola Jokic.