Draft guru says Victor Wembanyama truth only Spurs fans know

Victor Wembanyama is San Antonio's key to a return to dominance in the NBA, and he's as much of a sure thing as you're going to get in pro basketball. These players are exceptional at their craft, and to reach contender status, you need a beast on your team. Well, Wembanyama, in his second season, was playing like a first-team All-NBA player. That should tell you all you need to know about who he is.

You don't have to just take my word for it. Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon both agreed on a recent episode of their Game Theory podcast. "Last year, by the time he had the blood clot, I think that he was probably first team All-NBA," Vecenie said about Wembanyama, before Simon co-signed the sentiment.

Sam and Bryce are both voters for NBA award season, so these aren't just a couple of guys riffing about something they know nothing about. When you re-examine what Wemby was doing right before he was ruled out for the year, it's easy to see why we feel this way.

Wembanyama was making a case as a top-five player last season

He was at least laying the foundation for it. We already know what his numbers on the season were: 24 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, one steal, and nearly four blocks. There are only 20 players who averaged more points than Vic. Only seven guys grabbed more boards per game. None came close to blocking as many shots. That's three of the five major stat categories, and he was dominating.

What's even more impressive is how The Alien was performing before the blood clot was discovered. We all could tell that something was wrong. Fans were discussing it and reporters were asking about it, but nobody could quite figure out what ailed San Antonio's franchise center.

Despite some of those down games we knew were uncharacteristic, he still found a way to play some out-of-this-world basketball here and there. Vic posted three 30-point double-doubles with eye-popping stat lines in his last 10 games.

In a win against Indiana in their first matchup in Paris, Wemby went for 30 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, one steal, and five blocks. A few games later, he dropped 30 points, 14 rebounds, and six blocks in a blowout win over Milwaukee. In his second-to-last game of the season, Vic put up 31 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and three blocks to help defeat Washington.

Those are unreal numbers. It's hard to wrap one's mind around a player so young playing that well, but you must. Wembanyama exists, and that production is deserving of a first-team All-NBA selection. Would I have complained if he were only a second-team player? Of course not. Should anyone have complained had he been chosen for the first team? Hell no.