Victor Wembanyama is going to be the most hyped draft pick of the last decade. He’s been named a surefire prospect and Hall of Famer. The hype train is chugging along exactly like those of LeBron James and Anthony Davis when they were in high school. He stands at least 7-foot-2 as nobody knows how much he has grown over the last year or so. He also weighs at least 210 pounds, which will be his biggest concern as it was with Chet Holmgren this year.
Examining Victor Wembanyama’s Game
Despite concerns about the weight, Wembanyama has been heralded as a can’t-miss prospect. He has been described as moving and shooting like Kevin Durant while being able to play defense like Rudy Gobert. If that’s not the best of both worlds, then what is? But we are going to get further into what makes “Wembz” such a special and sought after prospect. Here are some of his stats with French team ASVEL in the LNB Pro A league. In 16 games, he averaged about 18 minutes per outing.
- 9.4 PPG, 1.8 BPG, 5.1 RPG
- 47.3 FG%, 26.0 3P%, 70.0 FT%
7’3 18-year-old Victor Wembanyama is the projected top pick in the 2023 NBA draft 👀 pic.twitter.com/gHbCEomXFt
— Courtside Films (@CourtsideFilms) July 21, 2022
Wembanyama is already standing above seven feet tall and has a plus wingspan. This has allowed him to rack up blocks not only at the rim, but also out on the perimeter. He changes pretty much every shot near him and even has some highlight blocks of three-point attempts. In today’s game where big men have to not only protect the rim, but step out and guard the perimeter as well, this becomes huge.
Victor Wembanyama’s Strengths and Weaknesses
The Flying Frenchman has excellent body control and is a certified lob target. With his arms, he has a nearly unlimited catch radius to boot. Wembanyama’s quick movements allow him to defend in space better than most other big men, and this is what makes him such an excellent weak side defender as well. He can cover an insane amount of ground in almost no time, which makes him dangerous on the defensive end.
What’s most intriguing about Wembanyama, is his potential on offense. He is smooth and can get to wherever he wants on the floor. Whether that’s by posting up or driving by defenders, Wembz can pretty much do it all. He has to tighten the handles a bit, but they look great for someone at his size and shouldn’t be a problem to improve.
The key swing skill for the top prospect is going to be his shooting. He’s already shown great touch around the rim and has an easily repeatable shot. His shooting percentage from beyond the arc isn’t where you’d like it, but he has the makings to consistently hit from there. Assuming that part of his game becomes a reliable asset or even a strength, it will be quite clear in just a couple years why Wembanyama is the top pick everyone is making him to be in what promises to be an absolutely loaded draft class.