Victor Wembanyama is tapping into Tim Duncan territory at warp speed

History is best viewed through the rearview mirror, peering back at the greatness of those who came before. Yet Victor Wembanyama is forcing every fan of basketball to watch history being built before our very eyes. His ascendance up the NBA ladder is the fastest that the league has seen since another superstar big man: Tim Duncan.

Fans of the San Antonio Spurs have obviously been drawing comparisons between the two No. 1 overall picks since the franchise landed the pick back in 2023. The narrative parallels are obviously there, with generational prospects landing with the Spurs 25 years apart. Yet the connection has hardly ended at how their careers began.

Victor Wembanyama has not snuck quietly onto the NBA scene: he has dominated his way to the top already, a meteoric rise as he does things that no player in NBA history has ever been capable of. It would be nearly impossible to find someone truly locked into the league who doesn't rank Wembanyama in the top-5 players in the league, and likely the only reason that he wouldn't be Top-3 is some level of "he has to earn it" or "it's disrespectful to the others" - not true arguments based out of his impact on a nightly basis.

How often is a player considered one of the three best players in the NBA right out of the gate? How often is a player this young (this is Wembanyama's age-22 season) and inexperienced (third season) and yet at the very top of the league?

Wembanyama is making history

Stathead tells us that 16 players have made First Team All-NBA while 22 years old or younger and within their first three seasons. Everyone on that list is in the Hall of Fame, a lock to make it when they retire, or Derrick Rose, whose career was cut short by knee injuries. Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Rick Barry, Oscar Robertson, Bob Pettit dot that list -- and yes, Tim Duncan, who makes the list twice.

Walking the list back, however, making it onto the All-NBA First Team is not quite the same as being a top-3 player in the league. The likes of Doncic, Durant, Chris Paul and LeBron all showed their mettle early on, but they didn't push past the other stars in the league for a handful of years.

The last player to enter the league, start dominating from day one, and be an unquestioned Top-3 player in the league by his age-22 season? It was Tim Duncan, who was fifth in MVP voting as a 21-year-old rookie and third the following year. He would finish Top-5 in MVP voting for eight straight seasons to start his career - eight straight! His place in the pantheon of all-time greats somehow continues to be underrated.

Wembanyama is the next Tim Duncan

Wembanyama is louder and more brash than Duncan, to be sure, but their unique dominance over the league is absolutely similar. Wembanyama brings the same two-way impact that Duncan did, except his defensive gravity warps every opponent's game plan. He could go down as the greatest defensive player in NBA history - a title not decisively held by any one player, but the top of that list contains the likes of Bill Russell, Hakeem Olajuwon and Duncan. And perhaps he could even lay claim to the greatest of all time, full stop.

The broader conversation around the league is starting to take note as well. Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe pointed out the Tim Duncan comparison on a recent podcast, excitedly trying to outdo one another in how spectacular they could get in describing the start to Wembanyama's career.

This is not merely some cute historical parallel, either. Duncan's two-way impact year after year elevated the Spurs to sustained excellence and two decades' worth of 50-win seasons. His quiet leadership allowed other stars to shine and gave the Spurs the talent needed to win again and again. Five titles later, the Spurs have one of the greatest dynasties of all time, in any sport.

Predicting Wembanyama to do the same is fool's gold, of course; much more goes into building a dynasty than one single superstar, although it's obviously the most important ingredient. What the historical parallels do, however, is set the baseline: this is now possible because of how good Wembanyama is, this quickly.

Wemby will face his first playoffs this year. He will likely be decorated with accolades, from Defensive Player of the Year to All-NBA First Team. And no one would be surprised if by next season he is winning MVP and the Larry O'Brien, too.

He has been that good. The second coming of Tim Duncan. And perhaps something even greater.