The number one overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft, Victor Wembanyama, made his long-awaited regular season NBA debut for the San Antonio Spurs. Although they lost to the Dallas Mavericks 126-119, fans were still ecstatic about the start of a new era in the NBA. Wembanyama is a 19-year-old Frenchman who stands at an astonishing 7 feet and 4 inches tall. When fans and scouts saw the freak of nature glide down the court like a gazelle, shooting three-pointers, dunking the ball with ease, and blocking shots left and right, they knew he was special. Wembanyama played in the LNB Pro A basketball league in France. NBA stars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry called him a Unicorn.

 It seemed like it was too good to be true when Wembanyama was drafted by the Spurs. Not only was he paired with a very successful coach, Gregg Popovich, but the Spurs have had one of the most famous “Big Threes” in the NBA who won four championships together under Coach Popovich. This “Big Three” includes Tim Duncan, Toney Parker, and Manu Ginóbili. Similar to the exciting rookie, all three of these players are not from the United States. Toney Parker is a fellow Frenchman, while Tim Duncan is from the Virgin Islands and Manu Ginóbili is an Argentina native. Tim Duncan could be the most influential on Wembanyama as he played the same position as him and is an NBA Hall of Famer.  According to NBA insiders, all three of these players will assist in the 19-year-old’s on-court development. 

Ok, well how did Victor Wembanyama do in his debut? Wembanyama did get into trouble which limited him to only playing 23 minutes. Despite this, he still had a pretty impressive stat line with 15 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block. The excitement from Spurs fans was evident as they screamed every time Wembanyama scored a basket. Fans were also quick to notice that he and Tim Duncan had the same stat line in their debuts, both having 15 points, 2 assists, and were 6/9 from the field. This is definitely ironic and hopefully signifies that Wembanyama will have a Hall of Fame career like Duncan. Victor Wembanyama is undeniably one of the most exciting and promising rookies that the NBA has seen possible since LeBron James.