Wembanyama’s vital missing skill could elevate Spurs into NBA’s elite

Victor Wembanyama's game is all-encompassing. He can literally do everything on the floor, so that makes him the most deadly Swiss-Army Knife the NBA has ever seen. However, sometimes you need to make things simple and get to the free-throw line. He hasn't done that enough so far in his career, but if that changes, it unlocks a whole new level of success for the Spurs' offense.

San Antonio's resident cosmic being showed significant growth in his second season, and it led him to an All-NBA caliber year. His stats could not be argued with. He was putting up video game numbers. But there are still a few things missing from his toolbox, and getting easy points is a major one. Not everything needs to be difficult. Once he learns that, life becomes much easier for the entire team.

Wembanyama must become a free-throw merchant... to a degree

I know this "merchant" term has developed a negative connotation to it lately, but the guys that get labeled with it are mostly players who have nearly perfected a useful part of their craft. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was called a free-throw merchant all season. It led to an MVP and a championship for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

If that's the result of having a high-level "free-throw merchant" on your team, you can sign me up. SGA recognized the importance of free points pretty early in his career. As a rookie, he only averaged 2.4 free throws per game, but that number jumped to 5.1 as a sophomore. This season, he took 8.8 attempts a night. We want to see Vic somewhere around that number, and right now, he's not close.

Last season, Vic actually shot fewer free throws per game than he did in his rookie season. He got to the line for 5.2 attempts as a freshman, compared to 4.1 in his second campaign. That number doesn't line up with the number of field goal attempts he's taking.

Wembanyama was 15th in the league in shots per game but only 54th in free throws. Those don't match up. For comparison, De'Aaron Fox was 14th in shots and 29th in free throws. Stephon Castle was 90th in field goal attempts, but 48th in free throw attempts. SGA was first in shots and third at the line. I think you get the picture.

The margin of NBA games can be so tight that any chance you can get for easy points needs to be taken. He was nowhere near what he should be at due to his status as a star and the number of shots he takes a night. If you look at the list of the top ten players in free throw attempts last season, only two of their teams didn't make the playoffs. That's not a coincidence, and it's fixable.