Wemby Watch: Making an Impact When Shots Aren't Falling
San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama's introductory season is nearing an end. With roughly a month remaining in the regular season, his NBA Rookie of the Year campaign has a chance to finish strong.
Although Wembanyama has struggled some offensively of late — and has even missed games — his impact goes well beyond scoring. Not only is he putting up unreal numbers, but his ability to enhance winning basketball is becoming more prevalent.
What has the generational talent done since our last Wemby Watch update, and what are his statistics to this point?
Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
2023-24 Stats: 20.7 PPG | 10.3 RPG | 3.4 BPG | 1.3 SPG | 3.5 APG | 46.7% FG | 33.3% 3PT
Spurs Record: 14-52
As expected for any young rookie, Wembanyama’s shooting consistency has varied all season. He started out his rookie season shooting very inefficiently from the floor, but then more recently went on a long stretch of games on a hot streak. However, over his last few contests, the French big has struggled tremendously from the floor. Over his last three — dating back to March 5 — Wembanyama has shot 19-of-47 (40.4%) from the field. This week specifically (two games), his 40 total points scored have come on 37 shot attempts.
Again, what makes Wembanyama so special is his ability to impact winning even when he’s not scoring efficiently. He’s a multi-dimensional player that does everything on the court. Even in his two games this week in which he shot poorly from the floor, his box plus/minus was a +4 despite the Spurs losing those two games by a combined 14 points. Being disruptive defensively, crashing the boards and generating buckets for his teammates with the gravity Wembanyama draws and vision he possesses really helps his team in a big way.
In the upcoming week, Wembanyama and the Spurs will take on the Denver Nuggets, Brooklyn Nets and Dallas Mavericks.
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