Victor Wembanyama’s 52-point night was enough to spark the usual old arguments, but the loudest pushback missed the bigger picture. Nick Young said he wasn’t “impressed” because Wemby “he don’t want to play like that,” tying his reaction to the Spurs star’s own postgame remark that the style was “exhausting.”
Young also argued that Wembanyama is being pushed into a game that is “not in his DNA,” calling him “soft” and saying he has “too much, you know, crumpets and tea.” He suggested the French star could produce nights like that regularly, but chooses not to because he’d rather shoot threes.
That line of thinking leans on one of the oldest clichés in basketball: big men should live on the block, and international players are somehow built to be soft. It’s the kind of take Wembanyama has heard since he entered the league, and it ignores where the game actually is now.
Nikola Jokic offered the clearest rebuttal. After putting up 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists against Toronto in three quarters, he was asked what changes when smaller defenders guard him. His answer cut right through the noise:
“In today’s NBA, I think there is no size advantage. I think the defender in the low post, the officials are allowing them to do much more: be much more physical, much more pushing, much more grabbing, than if you’re playing outside...
I think that’s why more players are not willing to play in the low post anymore. Just because you’re going to get a foul, and it’s never going to get called.”
Jokic also pointed to the wear and tear, saying it drains a player “possession after possession,” and he even predicted the low post could fade away entirely in five to ten years. That matters because this is a three-time MVP whose game was built there in the first place. Even he has scaled back his own post work, with his post-ups down to 5.1 per game from 9.8 two years ago.
So when Young says Wembanyama should be parked in the paint, he’s basically telling a slender 22-year-old to live in a place Jokic himself is moving out of. That’s not a realistic ask, and it’s not a sustainable one either.
Joel Embiid made the same point years ago. At his best, he was the most dominant post force since Shaq, but even then he caught heat for spending time on the perimeter. His answer to the critics was blunt:
“It’s funny when you’ve got these old guys always talking about posting up, 'you need to spend time in the paint,' and all that stuff. You can't win this way anymore.
It's not the fricking '90s or '80s like it used to be. So, they must not have any basketball IQ.”
That’s the reality Wembanyama is playing in. Defenses are too good to let a player camp on the block all night, and he doesn’t need to anyway.
He’s averaging 29 points per game right now without doing it. The debate around his game keeps trying to drag him backward, but the league has already moved on.
In Other News...
Dylan Harper Said What Spurs Fans Are Starting To Believe About Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyamas latest night was the kind that forces even hardened NBA observers to stop and reset their expectations. He put up 52 points, 24 rebounds, eight blocks and two steals in 34 minutes, a line so rare it put him alongside Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to ever reach at least 50 points, 24 rebounds and eight blocks in a game. It also kept the Spurs rolling, pushing their winning streak to six and lifting them to 6-2.
For a young roster trying to find its identity, the bigger takeaway may be how quickly Wembanyama is turning awe into routine. Dylan Harper was among the teammates who came away sounding like fans, praising Wembanyamas dominance and drawing the Chamberlain comparison himself, which says plenty about the standard being set inside the locker room. The question now is less about whether Wembanyama can take over a game than how far San Antonio can ride nights like this while the rest of the league keeps trying to catch up. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Is Putting Dallas Through The Exact Show Spurs Fans Dreamed Of
Victor Wembanyama made the Spurs matchup with Dallas feel like a showcase from the opening tip, and by halftime he had already piled up a line that looked more like a full game than a first half. The rookie center scored 29 points on 7-for-12 shooting and added 16 rebounds, two assists, three steals and six blocks, giving San Antonio exactly the kind of two-way dominance its fans have been imagining since he arrived.
The Mavericks tried to keep pace through Kyrie Irving, who had 17 points and four assists, but Wembanyama kept bending the game in San Antonios favor on both ends. For a Spurs team still building around its new centerpiece, nights like this are a reminder of how quickly he can change the tone of a game, and how uncomfortable he can make even a veteran opponent look when the matchup tilts his way. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyamas Historic Night Still Left Him Frustrated With One Thing
Victor Wembanyama delivered the kind of performance that can reshape a game and a conversation at the same time, piling up a career-high 52 points with 24 rebounds and eight blocks to lift the Spurs past Dallas, 112-111. It was the sort of night San Antonio has been waiting to see from its franchise centerpiece, especially with the rest of the roster struggling to keep pace offensively while the Mavericks kept clawing back into it.
Even after all that, Wembanyama did not sound like a player fully satisfied with the finish. He pointed to a few late-game details he wanted back, including missed free throws and the way he handled some screen-setting sequences, a reminder that his standards are already set well beyond a box score that most players would celebrate for weeks. For the Spurs, the win mattered most, but the frustration attached to it may be just as telling about where their star thinks this group still has room to grow. [Read more 🡒]