Kon Knueppel’s answer to a simple all-time starting five prompt turned into a loud statement about Victor Wembanyama.
The Charlotte Hornets rookie named Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, and Wembanyama as his five. That’s a list packed with four of the names that usually end every greatest-of-all-time debate, and then there’s Wembanyama, who is still only 22 and heading into his fourth year.
That’s the part that jumps off the page. Wembanyama does not have the full body of work that usually comes with that kind of placement.
His NBA résumé is only three seasons deep, and injuries have interrupted it. He has not even reached his prime yet.
But Knueppel’s pick says plenty about how the league already views him.
Knueppel has actually had to deal with Wembanyama on the floor. He has guarded him, chased him in transition, and watched him wipe out shots that looked like they should have been points. So when a player who competes against him puts him in the same conversation as Jordan and James without hesitation, that feels less like empty praise and more like an honest read on what everybody is seeing.
The presence of Duncan on the list makes it hit even harder for Spurs fans. It puts two different eras of San Antonio frontcourt greatness side by side: Duncan, the steady force who defined nearly two decades of Spurs basketball, and Wembanyama, the young star now being mentioned in the same breath by a current NBA player. David Robinson has often been left off these kinds of lists, but seeing another silver-and-black big man make the cut still lands.
That kind of recognition does not come around often. Wembanyama is already drawing that respect from peers before the usual milestones pile up, and that says a lot about how far his talent has carried him already.
For Spurs fans, the takeaway is simple: another transformative big has arrived, and the league is treating him like it knows exactly what’s coming.
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Jones-Garcias path, though, is still a work in progress, which is why his summer matters. The Spurs may have some playing time available for him next season, and a reserve scoring job would be a real opening for a player trying to carve out a place in the rotation. How he looks in the qualifiers will help shape that discussion, especially if he can steady the parts of his game that have been less reliable lately. [Read more 🡒]