Victor Wembanyama’s scoring is the part of his game that still has room to grow, but the burden of fixing it shouldn’t fall entirely on his shoulders.
Kevin O'Connor recently dug into Wembanyama’s playoff scoring numbers, and the concerns were clear enough. He shot 33% in isolation, 23% on spot-up plays, and 40% on closeout drives. Those are not the marks of a player who has fully solved the offense when defenses force him into tougher spots.
That matters because the leap from dominant star to truly unstoppable one usually comes down to what happens when the easy stuff disappears. Wembanyama already owns the defensive end.
He is the best defender alive, the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, and the kind of force who covers absurd ground every night. He led the league in blocks per game again this past season and finished with 197 blocks in 64 games.
Nobody is asking whether he can impact a game on that side of the floor. The real question is how much easier the Spurs can make life for him on offense.
There’s no doubt Wembanyama would benefit from becoming more reliable as a one-on-one scorer. If he can consistently win isolated possessions, especially late in games, that changes what San Antonio can be when the pressure rises. But the smarter fix may be to reduce how often he has to create from scratch in the first place.
The Spurs should be looking for cleaner ways to feed him. Early post touches before the defense is fully set.
Pick-and-pop chances off Castle, Fox, and Harper drives. Cuts that turn a dead possession into a free basket.
Those kinds of looks can save energy and keep him from carrying too much of the load.
That load is already enormous. Wembanyama does more defensively than anyone in the league, and asking him to also manufacture difficult offense possession after possession is a lot to put on a 22-year-old. His scoring in isolation will improve as he develops, but the team around him can help by making those moments the exception rather than the plan.
Isolation should be the emergency button, not the first option. Wembanyama already averaged 25 points in the regular season, 27 in the Western Conference Finals, and 26 in the NBA Finals. Even without the polish of a veteran, he has shown he can pile up production.
The next step is not just about whether he can do more on his own. It is also about whether the Spurs can give him easier chances to score. If they do, O'Connor’s question starts answering itself.
In Other News...
Spurs Title Plans Could Hinge On A Fight Beyond The Roster
Adam Silver has been making the leagues case for the NBAs current second apron rules, casting them as a tougher, more NFL-like system and pointing to the recent spread of championships around the league. For teams like the Spurs, that stance matters because the new cap landscape is no longer just a background issue. It shapes how aggressively a front office can think about building around a young core, and whether patience and flexibility are still enough in a league that keeps tightening the screws on spending.
The bigger wrinkle is that the current collective bargaining agreement still has another negotiation cycle ahead, and any future changes would have to satisfy both the league and the players association. For San Antonio, that leaves the long-term picture tied to something beyond player development and draft picks: the rules themselves. The Spurs can map out a roster path today, but the real question is whether the environment around those plans looks the same when their next wave of decisions comes due. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Star Is Becoming Team USAs Biggest 2028 Olympic Problem
The early conversation around the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics already has Team USA looking like the favorite, but the frontcourt picture is where the questions start. A lot of the veteran American names that help define the current core figure to be gone by then, and that leaves a familiar issue for the Americans as they look ahead to a field that could also feature Nikola Jokic, Alperen Sengun and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
For the Spurs, though, the looming headache is much more personal. Victor Wembanyama is expected to be front and center for France after his breakout Olympic run, and his presence alone could turn the gold-medal path into a problem for the U.S. Team USA can still talk about depth and talent, but against a player like that, the conversation is really about whether it will have enough size and stability to answer when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Still Look Built To Silence Houstons Rising Hype
Houstons early start to training camp, capped by a preseason stop in Macau, has only sharpened the sense that this is a season of expectations for Ime Udokas team. The roster has changed enough to invite optimism, with Fred VanVleet back in place and a core that now leans on Kevin Durant, Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun to push the next step. Still, for all the noise around Houstons upside, the Spurs remain a stubborn benchmark in the division and a reminder that promise does not automatically translate into progress.
San Antonio has had Houstons number enough times to make skepticism feel warranted, especially once Victor Wembanyama settled into his role as the face of the franchise. The matchup history matters because it shows where the Rockets still have to prove themselves, and last season only reinforced that gap in a series that tilted firmly toward San Antonio. Until Houston shows it can consistently handle the Spurs length, pace and talent, the rising hype around the Rockets will stay just that. [Read more 🡒]