New NBA guideline may finally unleash Victor Wembanyama's offensive potential

The NBA's announcement of new points of emphasis for the upcoming season could be music to San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama's ears. The league will soon crack down on defenders grabbing offensive players off-ball in an attempt to promote freedom of movement.

Wembanyama should love the NBA's new guidelines after what he went through in the NBA playoffs. During the playoffs, he was constantly being grabbed and held by players such as Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Isaiah Hartenstein of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It didn't ultimately work with Wembanyama still dominating both teams, but it could make it much easier for him to score. In turn, the new guidelines could help him offensively this season, possibly en route to an MVP year.

Teams can no longer get away with fouling Victor Wembanyama

Players such as Gobert and Hartenstein grabbing and pulling at Wembanyama was meant to negate his height. Keeping him from catching lobs and off the glass was meant to frustrate him and slow him down.

But had the NBA effectively called all the grabbing, Gobert and Hartenstein would have been largely unplayable, not to mention it would have gifted Wemby plenty of free throws. Gobert simply couldn't score against him and allowed Wembanyama to hang out near the basket, which helps explain his record 12-block game.

Hartenstein at least grabbed offensive rebounds and had that irritating floater. However, when paired with Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort, the Thunder had little spacing and often got off to bad starts in the Western Conference Finals.

That trade-off wasn't ultimately worth it, with Wembanyama still averaging a stellar 27.3 points during that series. That should be a scary thought to the rest of the NBA.

New NBA point of emphasis may make Victor Wembanyama unstoppable

The more teams try to grab and hold Wembanyama, the more it could backfire if the NBA is serious about increasing freedom of movement. After all, he shot nearly 83% from the free throw line on 7 attempts per game in the regular season and almost 85% on 7.1 attempts in the playoffs.

The point is, if teams try to contain Wembanyama by limiting his movement, he could see an uptick in free throw attempts and, therefore, an increase in his scoring. On the flip side, if teams don't, then we could see him score more in the paint.

It could even change how teams play him. In the playoffs, opposing teams largely guarded him with centers, but if they can't hang with him, those teams might go back to having wings defend him.

That presents other problems for teams. The Wolves can't hide Gobert on another Spurs player and still keep him near the basket. Meanwhile, the Thunder can't replace Hartenstein with Holmgren at center with him being MIA against the Spurs.

If two of the better defensive teams have no easy way to stop Wembanyama, then other teams won't either.

All in all, if the NBA is serious about cracking down on defenders grabbing players, then it could result in a scoring jump for Wembanyama. In doing so, it could bolster his MVP hopes and the Spurs' title hopes.

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