Victor Wembaneyama produced a masterpiece in his 51st NBA game.of san antonio spursThe 7-foot-5 rookie supernova became the youngest player in league history to record a 5-on-5 game. los angeles lakers On Friday night, he had 27 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, five steals and five blocks in 31 minutes. On the night, Wembaneyama made 3-of-8 3-pointers and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line.
There was just one problem with Wembangyama’s historic performance. It was another loss for the Spurs. The Lakers defeated the Spurs 123-118. San Antonio fell to 11-46 on the season.
After the game, Wembaneyama was asked about his big night against LeBron James and had a great answer. Wenbanyama said that he cannot be satisfied with his performance even if he loses. Below is the full quote from Wenbanyama.
On Spurs’ Victor Wembaneyama joining Michael Jordan in back-to-back five-steal, five-block games: “I wonder if he accomplished that with a win instead of a loss. To me, that’s secondary. Good luck. …You look back and think it was a good performance. As of today, we can’t be satisfied with the loss.” pic.twitter.com/ITAd0bupxr
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 24, 2024
No NBA player has played a 5×5 game since Jusuf Nurkic in 2019. No player since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1990 has matched the line Wembaneyama set against the Lakers.. This was the 23rd 5×5 game in NBA history.
Even more wild than Wenbanyama hitting a 5×5 match in his 51st career game is the fact that he was hitting a 5×5 match almost every night in a row. Wenbanyama failed to reach 5×5 and only had one assist against the Spurs on Thursday night.
I wrote about Wenby’s first 50 NBA games on Friday. The point is that soon Wenbanyama’s dominance will become so commonplace that it will start to get boring. For now, he’s only 20 years old, he’s figured things out on the fly, and he’s already put in some great performances against the best players in the world.
Check out Wenbanyama’s full Lakers game highlights here.
After the game, LeBron James said of Wenby:
LeBron on Wenby: “He doesn’t have a ceiling. He can do whatever he wants in his career… There are players in our league that you have to consider whenever you’re near the rim or near the perimeter.” He’s right at the top, if not near the top, in the history of the league… pic.twitter.com/cJXo89n278
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) February 24, 2024
Wenbanyama is truly amazing.As I wrote on Friday, this worst He’s going to be terrorizing the rest of the NBA at any point in the next 15 years. He’s already been very good as a rookie and will continue to get even better.
