When A Player Actually Exceeds The Hype

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Victor Wimbanyama entered the NBA as the most hyped prospect since LeBron James. Some scouts even called him the best prospect ever.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:06)
Victor Wimbanyama is the singular greatest prospect in NBA draft history.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:12)
Seven foot four, with nearly an eight foot wingspan, and guard skills in a center's body. In France, he won MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and led the league in scoring in blocks as a teenager. Hype like that usually takes time to pay off. But that's what makes Wimbanyama special. As a rookie, he led the NBA in blocks, made first team all defense, and won Rookie of the Year unanimously. By year two, he was already a star, and by year three, he ended the Spurs' six-year playoff drought on a game-winning fadeaway against the Suns.
He's already being called the best defender in NBA history. Wimbanyama contests more than eight shots at the rim per game, leads the entire league in blocks, and even leads the league in blocks 10 feet in the air, meaning he's literally getting to shots that other defenders can't physically reach. When Wemby is on the floor, opponents take about 45 shots per 100 possessions in the paint. When he's off the floor, that number jumps to over 52 per 100 possessions. So now the conversation isn't about potential anymore. It's about MVPs, championships, dynasties, and the kind of career that puts you in the GOAT conversation. This is what happens when a player actually exceeds the hype. LeBron had high school games on national TV. Zion Williamson was selling out college arenas. Anthony Davis entered the draft as a guaranteed franchise player. But with Victor Wemba Nyama, the conversation felt different from the start, because the hype started when he was still a teenager, already playing in the Euro League, which is considered the second best competition in the world behind the NBA. And even though his raw numbers didn't look crazy at first, the context made scouts pay attention. He averaged under 10 points per game, but was only playing about 18 minutes a night. So adjusted to starter minutes, his production jumped to around 18 points, 10 rebounds, and over 3 blocks per game. But those stats still didn't explain why everyone was losing their minds. It was because no one that size was supposed to play like that. Despite being 7'4, Wim Benyama was taking pull up threes, hitting step backs, locking shots at the rim, then bringing the ball up the floor the next possession. NBA scouts had been tracking him since he was around 15
By the time he was 18, multiple front offices were already talking about the 2023 draft, like it revolved around one player. And when he dominated the U-19 World Cup in 2021, including an eight block game against Team USA, the idea that he was a generational prospect stopped sounding crazy. Kevin Durant said the league was in trouble. Giannis said he'd never seen anything like him. LeBron called him an alien.

**Victor Wimbanyama** (2:40)
I'm really glad he said that because I didn't like to be called a unicorn.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:44)
By the time the 2023 season started, it wasn't a secret anymore. Teams knew the draft lottery was about the chance to get Victor Wim Benyama. That honor would go to the San Antonio Spurs. This was a franchise that had already seen two number one picks turn into all time greats, with David Robinson and Tim Duncan. And usually that's where reality hits, because the NBA doesn't care about hype. It's faster, and even the best prospects in the world usually need time before they look comfortable. Even further, the Spurs were one of the youngest teams in the league. They weren't built to win yet, and the roster around him was constantly changing. Wemby's debut against Dallas was solid, but not spectacular. 15 points, five rebounds, two blocks. Then, a week later, he dropped 38 points and 10 rebounds against Phoenix, becoming one of only three teenagers in NBA history to have a 35-point, 10-rebound multi-block game alongside LeBron James and Kevin Durant. A few nights later, he had eight blocks in a game against the Grizzlies, something only Robinson and Duncan had ever done as Spurs rookies. In December, he put up 21 points and 20 rebounds against the Bulls, and became the youngest player in NBA history to record a 2020 game. And by the time the season reached the halfway point, the numbers really started to separate him from every other rookie. Over 20 points per game, around 10 rebounds, more than three blocks a night. He finished the season averaging 3.6 blocks per game, the youngest player ever to lead the NBA in that category. And the way he was doing it made it even stranger, blocking jump shots without jumping, recovering from the paint to the corner in one step, taking step-back threes at 7'4, like a guard. Later in the season, he recorded a triple double with blocks. He had a 5'5, put up back-to-back games with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 blocks, something no rookie had ever done. In March, he dropped 40 points, 20 rebounds, and 7 assists in a single game against the Knicks. By the end of the year, he became the first player in NBA history to finish a season with 1500-plus points, 250-plus blocks, and 100-plus made threes. Not the first rookie, the first player ever. He won Rookie of the Year unanimously.