In just two exhibition games under the bright lights of Las Vegas, Victor Wembenyama has set the NBA world ablaze with two extraterrestrial performances. While the sample size is obviously small, is dubbing him as the greatest prospect ever as crazy as it sounds? And how far will teams go to tank for him?

Ever since I was a little kid, my favorite game mode on any sports video game has been the one where you can create a player. My often wild and wonky imagination was able to come to life, as I possessed the power to build a virtual professional athlete however I wanted. A wide receiver with Calvin Johnson’s body combined with Chris Johnson’s speed in Madden? You bet. A five-foot-nothing center fielder that could hit tanks like Miguel Cabrera and run like Jose Reyes in MLB 2K? I’ve made too many of those to count. 

But my favorite create-a-players to make were in NBA 2K. For example, a 7’4” French guy who could legitimately move and handle the ball like a guard, hit fallaway jumpers with ease and protect the rim…wait, what? That’s a real person? Are you sure? Ah, yes, that would be the very tall man, the seeming myth and potential legend Victor Wembenyama. 

For those who don’t know, Wembenyama is on track to ignite the single greatest league-wide tankfest the NBA has ever seen. Listed at 7’4” and somewhere around 215 pounds, anything that you want in an NBA player, Wembenyama can probably do at a relatively high level. LeBron James dubbed him an alien. One GM called Wembenyama someone who “distorts basketball reality”. “Wemby” is already being hailed as the greatest prospect of all-time before the 2022-23 NBA season has even started. Is he really that good? Let’s examine these last two exhibition games to see why people are already bowing down to this basketball extraterrestrial. 

On Tuesday, Wembenyama’s Metropolitans 92 squad took on NBA G League Ignite, led by fellow phenom and likely top draft pick Scoot Henderson (who would likely be the number one overall pick in most other years). Henderson shined, dropping 28 and nine assists while showing flashes of superstardom on both ends of the floor. 

But it was Wembanyama who stole the show, scoring 37 of his own with (wipes glasses) seven made three-pointers and five blocks. The only other player in NBA history to hit seven threes in a game while also registering five blocks? (Wipes glasses again) Danny bleepin’ Green. You know when you’re listening to some variation of workout music, shooting around by yourself and imagining balling out under the brightest lights? Wembenyama actually did that on Tuesday. 

Wemby’s performance in game one was like an old-timey diner in that it literally had everything. Off-the-bounce shot creation? Check.

In the clip above, pay close attention to where he picks up his dribble and where he ultimately releases the ball. He establishes his pivot foot at the free throw line, and his finishing hand ends up almost in the restricted area. That should not be humanly possible. 

Off-the-dribble three? Check.

Catch-and-shoot three? Check.

Elite rim protection and exceptional recovery skills? Check. 

It was a truly incredible performance from Wembenyama on a big stage. This was the first time he had played in front of a national American audience, and he couldn’t have left a better impression…until he did the same thing on Thursday, dropping 36 points and grabbing 11 rebounds while putting together another collection of breathtaking highlights. There were a lot, so I’ll pick my three favorites.

There was this sorcery:

Then, there was this sorcery:

The fall away jumper is truly bonkers. We’ve seen superstar tall guys like Kevin Durant (7’, 7’5” wingspan) and Anthony Davis (6’10”, 7’6” wingspan) develop nearly unstoppable fadeaways because of how high their release point is. Wemby’s shot isn’t just unblockable; the comfort level operating out of a post up for a guy his height is astounding. If Wembenyama (7’4”, 8’ wingspan) can develop a consistent fall away jumper in the post, or even just a regular jumper…look out.  

Finally, there was some more sorcery:

That final play may not be as flashy as the first two clips, but I’d argue that it was more impressive than the first two. Wembenyama rejecting that alley-oop is equivalent to a cornerback in football getting burned at the line of scrimmage, yet recovering and breaking up the pass despite a good throw from the quarterback. It shouldn’t happen. 99.9% of basketball players aren’t getting anywhere close to that alley-oop, but Wembenyama is a part of that 0.01%. 

So, what have we learned? Well, Wembanyama had already put together a pretty impressive highlight package before he got to Vegas and was widely considered a top-two pick long before this week. These past two games have simply increased the speed of the Wemby hype train, which is now on pace to break the sound barrier. 

Looking at Wembenyama the prospect, he has the potential to be a generational force on both ends of the floor. He can be a taller Kevin Durant on offense and a mobile Rudy Gobert on defense. For a guy as tall as Wemby to be as skilled and coordinated as he is; it truly seems like something out of a video game. Anything that is thrown up to him in the paint is likely getting dunked. Opponents are perturbed by his mere presence in the paint, a trait that is only possessed by elite rim-protectors. He simply moves differently than everyone else. Heck, his misses are jaw-dropping.

Another important question has to be asked: How will Wembanyama impact the NBA this season? The chance for a potential all-time player may have teams that think they’re bad enough feigning for high lottery odds like never before. One anonymous team president told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that getting Wembanyama could add up to $500 million to the value of a franchise; considering the fact that getting Wemby could increase half of the league’s team value by 25% based on that prediction, I wouldn’t blame teams for heavily embracing the tank this season. The value of the number one pick in 2023 is going to be unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Especially for teams like the Wizards, Pacers, Magic, Hornets and Pistons: teams that haven’t had a generational talent in a long time, the prospect of getting a guy like Wembenyama or Scoot is like an unpollinated flower to a bee. 

The end of the season might get out of hand. The Thunder might let Alexsej Pokusevski play point guard. We could see something like Collin Sexton and Jarred Vanderbilt sitting out games for the Jazz because of “undisclosed illnesses”. The Spurs could run an all-rookie lineup. The Hornets could mess around and throw out a lineup of guys that are all 6’10” or taller. While all of these scenarios may sound extremely far-fetched and probably won’t happen, especially after Commissioner Adam Silver publicly acknowledged these possibilities, talents like Wembenyama don’t just grow on trees.

Another crazy part of all this: Scoot Henderson is another can’t-miss prospect in the 2023 draft! It’d be journalistic malpractice for me to gloss over another potential franchise player like Henderson. Scoot doesn’t just jump out of the gym; he’s extremely comfortable with the basketball, has shown flashes of elite defense and possesses the foundation for a rock-solid jumper. Also, Henderson, who was born in February 2004, is playing against a level of competition that features a myriad of guys who have played in the league and can still play in the league. 2023 might be the best year to get the second overall pick. 

Finally, is Webenyama the greatest NBA prospect ever? It’s too early to tell, but the answer could easily be yes by the time next summer rolls around. Going back through the archives, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the only other two center prospects that didn’t feel like real people when they entered the league. Then, you have guys like Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Ralph Sampson, Bill Walton, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Yao Ming and Anthony Davis who were the other consensus top prospects as big men who were considered to be generational talents. But as phenomenal as those guys were, they weren’t doing the things that Wembenyama is doing; they couldn’t. In terms of pure hype, Wembenyama is definitely up there. He might not be number one quite yet, as a) it’s only October, and b) the LeBron hype was unprecedented and may never be topped. 

Although the 2022-23 NBA season hasn’t even started yet, Wembenyama is already making waves in the league despite never having played a game in an NBA uniform. Will Wembenyama live up to the hype? Who knows. Expectations can put a damper on a player’s career. But Wembenyama seems different; he literally is different. All we know is that the race to the bottom might be the most epic we’ve seen in the lottery era, and whoever wins is going to feel like they won the actual lottery.