LeBron James has seen just about everything in his 23-year NBA career, but even he admits there’s something completely different about Victor Wembanyama.
The 22-year-old is doing unprecedented things in his first NBA playoffs and LeBron is in awe.
“He’s not the first guy in our league to be tall,” James said on the latest episode of his Mind the Game podcast. “He’s not the first person in our league to have height or length, he’s not, so we can trap that now guys, and yes, it’s because of his height, his size, the way he can cover a lot of places, especially on defense.
“But if we’re talking about what he can do offensively. His ability to put the ball on the floor, we’ve seen him take out Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert many times on the perimeter. Hitting him with snatch-backs, spins, ups and downs, dream moves, fades. We’ve seen him cut corner 3s. coordination, which looks disjointed at times, but it’s because of his length to catch the ball with his back to face to the basket, or half of his body, and he’s able to get the rim before he lands, that’s a connection we’ve never seen and it’s not just because he’s tall it’s because he has the ability to do things in the league.
James has made it clear that the dominance of the Black is as much about intelligence and intellect as it is physical gifts.
“But his IQ, you can see it in the way he talks, you can see in the way he behaves that he knows the game,” continued James. “He’s been taught the game the right way and San Antonio continues to be lucky as f— with those who have generational skills, IQ, smarts, but keep the main thing as the main thing. David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Wemby now. Guys don’t have this deep thought that’s dead. They have these horse blinders and they’re like the mission is the mission and that’s what’s most important to see what’s important.”
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