Let's Pump the Brakes on the Wemby Hype

Victor Wembanyama takes a picture with NBA commisioner Adam Silver after getting drafted first overall by the San Antonio Spurs, Thursday, June 22, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)AP

Victor Wembanyama is a true French unicorn. Seven feet and five inches tall, eight-foot wingspan, elite rim protector, can handle the ball like a guard, and can shoot from anywhere. He has arguably been the most talked about NBA prospect since LeBron came out of high school in 2003. With his measurables to go with his excellent versatile skill set, it seems well deserved. But the extreme hype from the media seems to be getting out of control. Some people seem to be talking about him being a future top-10 player of all time. Chris Broussard once said on FS1’s “First Things First” that “If Wemby is AD, KD or Hakeem, that's a disappointment. I expect him to be one of the best players ever — to have a career like LeBron, Jordan, Duncan, Shaq, or Kareem.” ESPN reporter for the NBA Adrian Wojnarowski said that Wemby was “Maybe the greatest prospect in the history of team sports.” Yeah… the expectations for a 19-year-old are out of control no matter how promising he may seem.

Please do not get me wrong. Victor Wembanyama is without question a once-in-a-generation type of prospect and deserved to be the first overall pick to a great organization with one of the greatest coaches of all time in Gregg Popovich. Also, no, I am not about to write an entire piece about how he needs to bulk up to compete against other NBA bigs. That part has been covered extensively and has already been addressed multiple times by Wemby himself. But the weaknesses in his game seem to be completely glossed over.

First, when analyzing his statistics, many different numbers may jump out. He averaged 21.6 points per game in 32 minutes per game while playing for Metropolitans 92 in the professional French basketball league in LNB Pro A. He also averaged an incredible three blocks per game. However, he also shot just 47 percent from the field and 27.5 percent from three-point range. 47 percent is a bit of a concerning number considering his height and playing the center position, especially when he’ll be playing in the NBA this upcoming season where the players guarding him will be much stronger, taller, and far more athletic. His poor efficiency from three-point range also somewhat undermines one of the biggest reasons why the media and basketball fans cannot get enough of him: his ability to score from anywhere on the floor. Sure, Victor Wembanyama can make three-pointers and has certainly practiced shooting them much more than anyone could expect from a seven-foot-five-inch tall center. But if he is unable to make them at even a relatively efficient rate, he will only be hurting his team by shooting them. For him to be projected as an even taller Kevin Durant-type offensive player, he must greatly improve his shooting to at least somewhat mirror KD’s incredible efficiency.

Although Wemby has been the most well-rounded of them all, there have also been other NBA prospects with a similar body type and skill set that have been injury prone, simply not panned out, or both. One of the first examples that come to mind is Bol Bol, the son of Manute Bol, who also got KD comparisons since he is another player over seven feet tall who can handle the ball and is a versatile scorer. He was incredibly hyped coming out of high school and has shown flashes of his potential in the NBA, but for the most part, has struggled to stay healthy and has not quite lived up to the expectations he once set for himself in high school. Chet Holmgren is another seven-plus footer with a guard-like skill set who had to miss his entire rookie season last year due to a foot injury, but NBA fans eagerly await how he will do in the league with his unlimited potential.

Lastly, recency bias seems to be a huge reason for Victor Wembanyama’s enormous hype as a prospect. As I said, Wemby’s freakish height and length combined with his ability on both ends of the floor have earned him the title of the top prospect in the 2023 NBA draft class. But he has also caused so many people to forget just how hyped up other recent prospects were in recent years and how much they deserved it as well. Zion Williamson may be mostly known for his struggles to stay healthy in the NBA, but his size, strength, athleticism, and virtually unstoppable scorer in the post got sports media to never stop showing his highlight reel dunks. Anthony Davis’s incredible defense and ability to score made him an insanely hyped prospect coming out of Kentucky in 2012 when he averaged nearly five blocks a game, which can pretty much only be accomplished in video games outside of himself. Then there are the comparisons to LeBron James as a prospect who was seemingly expected to single-handedly drag a franchise to the promised land and eventually be in the GOAT conversation. Many have put those same types of expectations on Victor Wembanyama, which simply is not fair to him. That territory is nearly impossible to reach and fans should certainly not be disappointed with the likely outcome where he is a great player but not the greatest of all time. (More power to him and all the credit in the world if he does reach that level, though.) Based on the trends of the way fans and media treat generational prospects, Wemby may be remembered as one of the best-ever prospects now, but he may very well be unseated from that throne once another unicorn type of player comes along who can bring even better or more unique skills to the table.

I truly do enjoy watching Victor Wembanyama play and cannot wait to watch him in a Spurs uniform. But let’s all collectively as NBA fans just take a deep breath and enjoy watching the man work to develop his already incredible game. Let’s see how it all plays out. Hopefully, he will be as great as people, including me believe he can be, but the higher-than-the-sky expectations must come to a stop.