Victor Wembanyama: The Game-Changer the San Antonio Spurs Needed to Dominate the Timberwolves Once Again
As the Timberwolves' season gets off to a promising start, the Spurs rookie serves as a reminder that history could repeat itself in upcoming seasons.
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The chances are that, if you are reading this, you know the San Antonio Spurs have dominated the Minnesota Timberwolves the most. That may not sound like much considering the Timberwolves have the lowest winning percentage among active NBA franchises. However, the Spurs’ 93-38 (.710) all-time record against the Timberwolves stands above the second-place Raptors (17-38, .309) given the edge in the volume of games played against.
A big reason is the Timberwolves entering the league around the same time as David Robinson. Just as those Spurs were aging and the Kevin Garnett-led Timberwolves were ascending in the late 90s, along came Tim Duncan, followed by Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Oh, those guys are aging, then comes Kawhi Leonard. In the past four seasons without Leonard, the Timberwolves are just a cool 9-7 against the Spurs in that span.
Enter Wembanyama
Now, the Spurs have a new weapon to torture the Timberwolves with for the next decade-plus: Victor Wembanyama. In a win over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, the Spurs rookie dropped 38 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Watch this if you missed the game:
Excuse me, but, uh, what the fuck is anyone supposed to do with this man? Wembanyama is not just some tall, rim runner — though he does that well, too. Jusuf Nurkic and Kevin Durant are veteran seven-footers and Wembanyama just flips the ball over their heads. Even when the Suns defended him with Eric Gordon, who is shorter but not a small guy, Wembanyama drills the baseline jumper over his head. Devin Booker, an underappreciated defender, did not fare much better.
Just look at the pull-up 3 Wembanyama hits at the end of the first half after he brings the ball up. Seeing Garnett handle the ball like this 20 years ago felt revelatory then, but Garnett was not 7’5”. He was just as much of a nightmare in transition, too, because defending him running to the basket with a head of steam is difficult at his size.
Defensively, he just covers so much ground and changes the players’ mindsets on the offensive end from simply existing. He does not even play 30 minutes per game yet and averages 2.2 blocks and 1.4 steals per game.
A Challenge With No Simple Solution
Every game won’t be 38 and 10 for any player, especially a rookie like Wembanyama. There will be nights where he struggles, of course. However, it is hard not to feel like the NBA was not put on notice Thursday night. Basketball fans have spent months talking about Wembanyama and what he could be; now, we are realizing him as an NBA player. Health willing, there is no reason he cannot become an all-time player.
For a Timberwolves franchise that was finally enjoying competitive basketball against the Spurs after 30 years of domination, this is bad news. Not unlike the rest of the league, finding a way to contend with Wembanyama is going to be a must since Karl-Anthony Towns (age 28) and Rudy Gobert (age 31) will be past their primes or out of the league by the time Wembanyama reaches his potential. Even 23-year-old Jaden McDaniels with his seven-foot wingspan likely will not be enough.
As we saw against the Suns and how they threw so many different defenders at him, there is no easy solution to slowing Wembanyama.
A New Era of Wolves vs Spurs (Only Hopefully More Competitive)
Wembanyama has only played five NBA games, but after seeing what he did to the Suns, it’s difficult not to be excited and terrified for the rest of the league. The Spurs may be one year away from being a true playoff contender in the West, but it certainly seems the Wolves’ greatest foe is reawakened.
We watched for years as Garnett and Duncan battled in the old Northwest Division. The Spurs knocked the Timberwolves out of the playoffs in 1999 and 2001, but the Timberwolves snagged the division title from them in 2004. With Anthony Edwards, Towns and McDaniels, the Timberwolves are set up for a nice short-term future. As much of a problem as Wembanyama presents, getting playoff battles between Edwards and Wembanyama in the future would be thrilling.