Wembanyama is resurrecting what Steph Curry killed in the NBA with a twist

Stephen Curry's prime was a revelation in the NBA. When the Warriors' franchise star reached his peak, he revolutionized basketball by making deep shooting, spacing, and perimeter skill the league's primary focus. As they say, imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and everyone wanted to be like Chef Curry.

Every generation gets one or two players who permanently alter the sport in one way or another. Victor Wembanyama is becoming the next one. It will just look different because you can copy Steph; you can't copy Victor.

So, instead of imitation, adaptation will be the league's new philosophy, brought to you by The Alien down in San Antonio.

Steph Curry gave the NBA a blueprint anyone could follow

Golden State's golden child changed the geometry of basketball with his dynamic shooting ability. Defenses are willing to guard further out on the perimeter than they ever had been because just about every organization in the NBA wanted more shooting, spacing, and ball movement.

Kids immediately began practicing logo threes, like the famous Curry shot to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder many moons ago. We began to see more off-the-dribble shots from deep; centers drifted further from the basket. All of a sudden, the league became small and faster with teams hunting the 3-ball constantly.

While nobody could actually become Steph, well, because he's Steph, everyone could borrow pieces of his game. Wembanyama's influence is proving to be just as pronounced, but it works in the opposite direction.

Teams must figure out how to survive Wembanyama because they can't copy him

Simply put, you can't teach 7'4", but there's so much more to it than that because we have seen larger prospects begin to emerge all around the world. Take the 18-year-old hooper from India, standing at an equal height. Jagmeet Singh is even being called "The Indian Wemby."

Best wishes to Singh in his career, but most of the guys this size are not Wembanyama because it's not just the height and eight-foot wingspan that make him an anomaly. Those things contribute to the spectacle, but Vic has been carefully crafting his body and playing style since he was a child.

Wemby has guard-like skills he's worked on his whole life. The way he trains his body to withstand injury, adding rare flexibility, and so far, successfully building his durability has been an intentional process for the monstrous Frenchman, so teams have to figure out how to counter him, and they're doing that in all kinds of ways—starting with roster construction.

OKC's drafting of Aday Mara and Houston's obsession with backup bigs isn't a coincidence. Teams are getting bigger again. They need more length, more rim protection, more versatile defenders, and more frontcourt depth.

We've seen this kind of ripple effect before

Today's big isn't yesterday's big, so those players preferably must be mobile, switchable, and have some offensive skill to remain a threat to pull Wemby away from the rim. Simply put, Curry inspired a generation of copycats, and Wemby is bullying teams into changing their desired identities.

Generational players always leave fingerprints on the NBA. Curry's legacy was creating a style everyone wanted to emulate. Wembanyama's legacy may be forcing every front office to rethink roster construction. It's similar to the impact Shaquille O'Neal had when every team felt they needed extra bigs to utilize their fouls and keep their stars from fouling out.

So, teams may never find another Victor, but they'll spend the next decade trying to build rosters capable of slowing down the one wreaking havoc in San Antonio. That's influence.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow