Victor Wembanyama has stormed back and says there is more to come.
The Frenchman made his long-awaited return from a deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder to power the San Antonio Spurs to a 125-92 season-opening victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
He became the first player since 1977-78 to score 40 points with 15 rebounds and three blocks with no turnovers while shooting 70 percent from the field in a remarkable overall performance that was too much for the home team.
After a summer in which Wembanyama spent time with monks in China and trained with former NBA stars Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Garnett, he returned transformed.
“[I was] much more in control of myself,” Wembanyama told ESPN. “The mind, I don’t worry [that] because I’ve seen what it’s like to be faced with the possibility of losing a lot of things, whether it’s your career or your health. So I don’t take it for granted anymore. The body? I’m having more fun now that I don’t have as much trouble moving. I know I still have to improve, and I will continue to improve.
This is what we worked for – Wemby
This is a worrying prospect for the rest of the league. If he can stay fit, Wembanyama and Spurs will be a tough team to beat.
“It’s like every day we try to lay a brick to build a huge mansion, and it feels like the job is done for the day,” Wembanyama added.
“This is what we worked for. This is what we fought for for so long, and I felt like it was right for me. I felt like I belonged. We had to make a statement in our locker room. The feeling really was that there really wasn’t anything more we could have done to help ourselves today. It felt like we did everything we needed to do.
“We felt ready and we felt like we wouldn’t have any regrets about the things we should have worked on or the things we should have done this summer. I felt comfortable with the work we’ve done and the preparation so far. Now all the die is cast in the Western Conference.”
Flagg overshadowed as Mavs struggle
It was a difficult reception in the NBA for number one draft pick Cooper Flagg, whose dominant emotion was one of amazement at Wembanyama.
“He’s unbelievable. He’s a different player,” Flagg said. “You don’t know what it’s like until you’re on the court with him. It’s something I’ve never seen before. He was great tonight, but we have to do a better job of trying to take away some of his looks and we can’t foul him as much as we did.”
As for his own performance, Flagg struggled, scoring 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
“Not great,” Flagg said when asked to rate his display. “Obviously we didn’t play incredibly well, but we need to get past that, focus and start looking towards Friday. [against Washington].”
Flagg received support from teammate Anthony Davis, the Mavs’ leading scorer with 22 points.
“First game. I mean, he’s still a rookie,” Davis said. “You come in and pre-season was obviously good, but when this game comes [in a] packed stadium, game on national TV… I don’t know if he’s a social media guy or not, but you saw it – it was all No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg and Wemby and all that. Then you start hearing it, and I’m not sure it got through to him, but it’s the jitters of the first game when it’s time to move on to the real thing. Then everything will be fine.
