The San Antonio Spurs have an advantage that the rest of the NBA can’t compete with: Victor Wembanyama.
Heading into his fourth season, Wembanyama is already the league’s best player. Some fans have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic ranked ahead of him, but Wemby’s two-way dominance and game-breaking skill set make it hard to argue against his case.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic are two of the most effective offensive players the league has ever seen, although neither of them holds a candle to Wembanyama’s best skill.
The thing that separates Wemby from the rest of the league is his ability to turn defense into offense. More often than not, his blocked shots wind up in the Spurs’ possession rather than going out of bounds. As one of the most mobile centers in the NBA, Wembanyama can, in turn, run the floor, setting San Antonio up for easy buckets.
Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox, and Devin Vassell are some of the best open-court players in the NBA, and Wemby racked up plenty of assists last year by finding streaking guards. However, the single most efficient play in the NBA involves Wembanyama turning blocks into points all by himself.
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Victor Wembanyama Has Broken the NBA
The most iconic block in NBA history is LeBron James’ chase-down on Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. Tied at 89 with two minutes left, Iguodala had a clear look at the basket. James came out of nowhere and pinned the layup on the backboard. The Cavaliers would go on to win the game, completing the 3-1 comeback.
James’ block took two points off the board, but it didn’t add any points to the Cavs. JR Smith got the rebound, and James missed a 2-pointer on the next possession. 30 seconds later, Kyrie Irving hit the dagger over Stephen Curry, but James’ block and Irving’s shot were two separate events.
Wembanyama doesn’t need those extra steps.
Last season, he blocked 197 shots, leading the NBA for the third season in a row. On 23 of those rejections, the Spurs got the rebound, pushed the pace, and Wemby was the very next player to shoot the ball. No out-of-bounds, no second-chance bucket: when Wembanyama is the very next player to shoot after a rejection, the ball is going in the hoop.
On those 23 shots last season, Wembanyama made 15 of them. He was five-of-ten on 3-pointers and 10-of-13 inside the arc. It’s the single most dominant action in the NBA, erasing two or three would-be points and turning it into offense for the Spurs results in a five-point swing.
Here’s every such play from last season:
Spurs Have NBA’s Most Effective Shot
Shooting 65 percent from the floor, in any situation, is impressive. It’s the 30th-best mark in NBA history, behind only big men who play one-dimensional offense. Wemby’s 65 percent mark on post-block shot attempts comes from all over the floor.
On shots after blocks from Wemby, the Spurs score 1.52 points per possession. Last year, according to The All NBA Podcast, the most efficient play in the NBA was a Stephen Curry handoff, where he scored 1.33 points per action. The least efficient, meanwhile, was a Keaton Wallace, at 0.72 points per play.
Of course, “shot immediately after a block on the other end” isn’t exactly a play the NBA tracks. It should be. I went through every block from Wembanyama, tracking ones where the Spurs recovered the ball. The result is the most effective action in the league.
Now, Wembanyama’s “most efficient shot” is even more effective than the 1.52 points per possession number. On 22 of the 23 blocks preceding a shot, the opponent was taking a 2-pointer. Most of those, of course, were right at the rim, almost a guaranteed make.
So not only did Wembanyama add 35 points to the Spurs, he took away around 47 points from an opponent. That 82-point swing could be a final score from a team in a 48-minute game, and no one would really bat an eye.
In 23 plays, Wembanyama added 82 points’ worth of production to the Spurs. That’s 3.57 points per action. Is the math perfect? No, because we can’t guarantee that every shot Wembanyama blocked would have gone in. But between dead balls, the Spurs were adding four points of impact between missed opponents’ baskets and made shots by Wembanyama.
Jokic is referred to as a “one-man offensive system.” Prime James Harden had the same impact. We haven’t seen a player who breaks the game on offense like Wemby since Shaquille O’Neal, and we haven’t seen a mobile defender like him since Hakeem Olajuwon. Wembanyama is combining both of them, and the results are off the charts.
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