How Wembanyama's unprecedented skillset would put Spurs' rebuild into hyperdrive

We are now only one day out from the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery, where the San Antonio Spurs will have a shot at securing one of the top picks in the draft and a potential franchise-altering player. And with the draft lottery fast approaching, we dove a little deeper into Scoot Henderson after focusing on some of the less-hyped names in this class, including the Thompson twins, Jarace Walker, Cam Whitmore, and Taylor Hendricks.

By now, just about anyone that has paid attention to NBA basketball on any level has heard the name Victor Wembanyama. I'd go as far as to argue that many probably know he is the heavy favorite to be selected first overall in the upcoming 2023 NBA Draft this June. Even so, it's still worth reminding hopeful Spurs fans that, even as a bottom-three team in the league, the odds are not exactly in their favor. In fact, San Antonio only has a 14% chance of winning the lottery.

We’ve made it straightforward that we aren’t putting all of our chips on Wembanyama, and we still have to do our due diligence with our draft analysis. But the time has come to discuss Wembanyama in more depth. Fans will finally find out which team he’ll join in the coming months, and he could completely alter the landscape of the franchise if he lands on the Spurs.

Victor Wembanyama’s strengths

Victor Wembanyama has been described by draft analysts with many colorful, borderline-hyperbolic adjectives, with many hailing him as the best draft prospect we’ve seen since LeBron James. Others have simply called him an alien. And while that kind of language may sound dramatic, when you get to see him in person, all the names and labels begin to make sense.

Standing a reported 7-foot-4 with a roughly eight-foot wingspan, Wembanyama has physical traits we have simply never seen before. He has a distinct size advantage over one of the tallest active players in the NBA, Rudy Gobert, who was present for his exhibition games against the G-League Ignite last October. But even at that absurd height, Wembanyama moves shockingly well on the court, gliding around more like a supersized wing or guard than a big man.

His insane length has allowed him to record a league-leading 3.1 blocks per game in his team’s 33 games in the LNB Pro A League. And when he isn’t blocking shots, he’s disrupting shooters to the point that taking him one on one in the post or even shooting over him on the perimeter feels like a near-impossible task. We’ve seen Wembanyama switch onto smaller guards, singularly defend fast breaks against multiple opponents, and palm-block shots right out of the air as if he’s catching a baseball.

Wembanyama isn’t necessarily going to be someone that will successfully bang bodies with true centers that have 40-50 pounds on him, but he has the length and athleticism to meet anyone at the rim. His defensive upside is approaching All-NBA levels in every aspect, and even now, he’ll be a day-one game-changer on that end of the floor.

Wembanyama’s defensive upside is ridiculous, but his offensive potential might make him one best draft prospects of the past couple of decades. He can put the ball on the floor and create scoring opportunities for himself with an advanced handle, step-backs, spins, and fadeaways. And he has an unprecedented number of moves for his size that are virtually impossible to defend.

While Wembanyama’s shooting efficiency must improve, he makes some impossibly tough shots. Many of those looks came off the dribble, and he has shown plenty of touch around the rim, in the midrange, and at the free-throw line, indicating that better shooting will likely be on the way. But frankly, with NBA spacing, where he’ll have more opportunities to get to the basket, his shooting development may not matter much.

Victor Wembanyama’s areas for improvement

Seeing as I often find myself laughing about the pure absurdity of Wembanyama when watching him play, it can be a bit difficult to find room for criticism of his game. Nonetheless, he has a couple of areas that leave something to be desired at the moment.

Although most of Wembanyama’s makes from beyond the arc look pure, he only hit 29% of his five three-point attempts per game. When you’re talking about a 7-foot-4 guy doing that, it can sound a bit nit-picky, but that number must improve if he plans on shooting a high volume of threes in the NBA. But as we mentioned earlier, his efficiency at the charity stripe, touch around the rim, and general willingness to shoot are all signs that point in the right direction.

Wembanyama’s execution as a playmaker also has room for improvement, but again, this is more of a consistency issue than an inability to make plays for others. We’ve seen some laughably impressive flashes of playmaking from Wembanyama that complement his scoring arsenal. But learning when to pass or take matters into his own hands is the most critical part of the equation.

Having better spacing at the next level and being surrounded by bonafide NBA players could ease concerns about his playmaking quite quickly.

How should the Spurs build around Wembanyama?

As fantastic of an advantage creator as Scoot Henderson is, Wembanyama likely has him beat purely based on scoring gravity around the bucket alone. Opposing defenses will have almost no choice but to collapse on Wembanyama when he receives an entry pass or drives into the paint himself, as he’s so long and crafty that finishing would be too easy for him otherwise.

This advantage makes Wembanyama’s development as a playmaker so instrumental. The Spurs already have multiple players that excel playing away from the ball, and they’ll have a chance to acquire even more through the draft. Wembanyama’s scoring gravity should theoretically create tons of open looks for those other players, so finding more spot-up and movement-shooting threats will be important when rounding out the roster.

The Spurs will likely still need a lead guard in a scenario where the team selects first overall. As an example in this draft, Michigan sophomore Kobe Bufkin strikes me as someone that can take on lead guard duties while still finding success on offense playing off the ball. Devin Vassell, Malaki Branham, Keldon Johnson, and Jeremy Sochan are all certainly capable of playing away from the ball as well, regardless of whether they find success through perimeter shooting (Branham and Vassell) or as cutters (Johnson and Sochan).

Much like Henderson, Wembanyama could benefit from having another big on the floor with him. Rather than face-guarding the opposing team's center on every possession, this would allow him to operate as a help defender. It would afford him the chance to spend more time on the perimeter on the offensive end.

Wembanyama’s two-way versatility would allow for nearly endless possibilities from a team-building perspective, and considering the Spurs have acquired multiple draft picks from the Dejounte Murray and Derrick White trades, San Antonio would be in a phenomenal position moving forward if Wembanyama joined the team.