Nobody in the NBA scares players more than Victor Wembanyama

If you've watched the San Antonio Spurs play recently, and I have a sneaking suspicion that you have, you may have noticed a surprising trend. Opposing teams appear to be attacking the paint less and less when Victor Wembanyama is on the floor.

That has resulted in his blocks dropping dramatically from 3.7 per game prior to his first injury this season to 2.7 rejections now. Teams are apparently getting the memo that testing him at the rim isn't wise.

In fact, we've seen squads such as the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets avoid him like the plague when he's in the game. That is the definition of a competitive advantage.

And if the Spurs can keep Wemby healthy, they should be able to use his rim deterrence to their benefit.

NBA teams are scared of challenging Victor Wembanyama

Wembanyama's rim protection has helped transform the Spurs into a title contender, with his play being Defensive Player of the Year worthy. Despite their recent struggles, having only gone 10-9 in their last 19 games, the Spurs remain a title contender. NBA players just don’t want to challenge him at the rim.

That is clearly evident by the eye test, but Wembanyama is still managing to rack up blocks, including swatting at least four shots in four of the team's last five games. He's had to work harder for those rejections, however.

Against the Orlando Magic, he had a chase-down block and had a devastating weak-side rejection. Against the Rockets, he embarrassed Kevin Durant by sending his jumper sailing.

Wembanyama doesn't have to stay near the basket to block shots. He has the mobility to challenge jumpers on closeouts and rotate to the weak side and stuff shots. However, San Antonio has made more of a concerted effort to keep him near the basket of late by getting creative with who he guards.

The Spurs have been more creative with Wemby defensively

If the Spurs are playing the Thunder, instead of guarding "Temu Wemby" Chet Holmgren, who can space the floor, Wembanyama generally guards Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, or Lu Dort.

Hartenstein is a non-threat from outside the paint, while Caruso and Dort combine to shoot just 32.5% on 8.8 3-point attempts per game. That means that when the Thunder go small, Wembanyama can match up against one of those two wings and dare them to shoot when he hangs out near the basket.

The Spurs did the same thing to Amen Thompson and the Rockets. Wembanyama let Thompson have plenty of space to take threes and dared him to take pull-ups.

The result was a hot mess for Houston, whose offense ground to a halt with both Thompson and Alperin Sengun failing to space the floor.

That allowed San Antonio to put the clamps on the Rockets, giving up just 14 points in the fourth quarter. Even with the Spurs' offense being a roller coaster of late, they have been able to fall back on their now third-ranked defense. That starts with teams being afraid to challenge Wembanyama at the rim.