How Prepared are the Wizards for Victor Wembanyama?

Victor Wembanyama is coming.

The physical specimen of specimen hasn't won his first NBA title quite yet, as he still has to notch three more wins over the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in order to advance to the Finals and make his bid for history, but he is absolutely, 100% a problem for every team not named the San Antonio Spurs to start seriously thinking about through the long-term.

Even though his squad spent the early-mid 2020s rebuilding right there alongside the down-on-their-luck Washington Wizards, he couldn't have outperformed them by much over his third NBA season. While his Spurs won 62 games in clinching the Western Conference's No. 2 seed and advancing to the ongoing conference finals, the Wizards dropped 65 outings in bolstering their own draft odds to apply the icing to their own lengthy re-tool.

San Antonio Spurs Center Victor Wembanyama — May 18, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts after a dunk in the second quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder during game one of the western conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

That league-low record netted Washington the first overall pick in this summer's draft class, and local fans are starting to get excited about the franchise's prospects and potential. But it's growing increasingly clear that to return to NBA glory, they'll have to go through the game's top living, breathing asset, and the Wizards must start considering that matchup possibility amidst their repositioning.

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At the very least, the Wizards' choice to create their new identity through their defense seems like the right one based on early playoff returns.

Offenses are doomed to warp when coaching staff get the time to meticulously break down matchups and players lean forward in their on-court commitments, leaving seven-foot stoppers like Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr to strut their stuff on the other end of the floor.

Washington Wizards Forward Anthony Davis — Mar 5, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Injured Washington Wizards forward Anthony Davis (M) watches from the bench against the Utah Jazz in the first halfat Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

They'll be an early candidate for the top D.C. duo to watch entering an exciting season of Washington hoops, with the recently-acquired Davis having yet to check into a game as a rostered Wizard, let alone work alongside his shot-blocking prodigy of a teammate. Where the sturdy Davis can hold his own on paint-oriented bigs, the skinnier Sarr can block even more shots than the brittle 10x All-Star while switching out to the perimeter and locking up guards about as well as Davis can on his best days.

They offer a unique variety of youth and experience as well as the wingspans to clutter up Wembanyama's driving lanes and entry pass-catching airspace to theoretically disrupt his scoring flow. There's not much they can do to stop him on defense, but the Spurs center is already requiring all-hands on deck in forcing hyper-specific game-plans.

With that said, the French giant has averaged 26 points over a half-dozen Washington duels, including a 50-point outburst last season. He wasn't as offensively-sound as he is now between the streaky jump shot and his relatively-skinny stature, and unfortunately for everyone else, there's no reason to expect his scoring production to get any worse than it already is through this decade and the next.

They have the lineup tools to put up a fight in the occasional Wembanyama meetup, but even the most thought-out strategies just sound optimistic after what he did to Oklahoma City in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Great defense is lucky to get the better of great offense on occasion, but all eyes will still fall to how the newly-invigorated Wizards will approach the game's rising face. Anything resembling sound preparation and commitment will elicit excitement out of Washington's ravenous fan base, even if the gold standard does prevail in a likely outcome.

There's only so much that can be done against a player like that, and Washington has to believe it has some hope for an answer.

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