Victor Wembanyama’s latest game-changing ability is the silent key to his rise

It’s an early evening in late December at Barclays Center and the San Antonio Spurs are playing the Brooklyn Nets. He collapses onto a folding chair in front of Victor Wembanyama’s locker Wind and truth, a new epic fantasy by Brandon Sanderson that runs 1,344 pages. It is the fifth book in a series, the next volume of which is expected in 2031, the same year in which Wembanyama (a) turns 27 and (b) opens the first chapter of a heyday that may be unlike anything what basketball has ever seen.

Until then, Wemby’s achievements probably won’t fill a door-stopping tome, but the possibility cannot be ruled out. An NBA leader in game play and wingspan, Wembanyama still finds ways to balance his surreal physical prowess with uncanny ability, fearless intellect and competitive drive. While there is still so much time before a ceiling is reached that may not even exist, last month felt like the first sustained phase in which Wemby’s hype turned into a tangible impact on victory. In December, he averaged 28.5 points, 10 rebounds and 4.4 blocks per game, more than doubling his November free throw attempts. He finished the game with a true shooting percentage of 62.6 and a fielding percentage of 32.8, and only six players in the entire league made more three-pointers.

As the NBA’s rising protagonist, Victor is nothing short of mythical. A big man who finished second in defensive player category as a rookie shouldn’t be able to act, shoot and move like a guard. A player who turned 21 last week shouldn’t be competing with a three-time MVP or turning heads at Madison Square Garden in his Christmas debut. Wembanyama is virtually unprecedented and impossible to plan for – a generational bogeyman finally shedding its training wheels.

But as he learns more about himself, basketball and a league he seems poised to conquer, the most compelling, functional and beneficial part of Wemby’s game is also the easiest to overlook at this point: his passing. Wembanyama came into the league with selfless tendencies and a natural appreciation for including others. But the ability to harness defensive attention and then consistently convert it into a positive outcome for someone else is often what takes years to develop into a star guard – let alone a center – and is ultimately what separates great offensive players from those we never see be forgotten. Right now, Wembanyama is showing why he is taking the latter route.

“I think it’s still a work in progress because it’s definitely the next step in my career, you know?” Wembanyama said when I asked him to assess his development as a playmaker from last season to now. “I mean, I want to make my teammates better, but I also know that I have to be more confident on the court to free up my teammates and give them free throws. It’s definitely a path I want to fully explore.”

In NBA history, only three centers (Alvan Adams, Bill Walton and Brad Daugherty) have assisted more baskets than Wembanyama in their first 102 games. In December, he averaged 7.8 potential assists per game – the most in a month of his career – and showed how he can decipher defensive matchups and strategies designed to test his patience and make him think.

Some opponents guard Wemby with a physical wing or guard and keep their own center as an auxiliary defender near the edge. When he sets up a screen or initiates the action, the defense switches to block a pick-and-pop three-pointer and then either stays home for him to attack one-on-one, load up on the strong side, or immediately double hard as he puts the ball on the ground. At the post they push and shove him and do everything in their power to wear him down.

The tight coverage is a response to Wemby’s growing threat as a dominant goalscorer, but his vision is starting to take him a step forward. “It takes time when you’re protected in the unique way teams have planned for you,” said acting Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson. “And I think sometimes he’s starting to get a little bit of a handle on some of the patterns that you see over and over again. Elite players can benefit from that… and we’re starting to see a little bit of that.”

Effective game building requires the ability to react spontaneously and make one right decision after another in a split second. The greats are able to anticipate what will happen and process a hurricane without being accelerated. It is an evolutionary step that is currently taking place for Wembanyama.

“(It’s) the way Luka sees things. He could drive, he will record his dribbling and he has so much more time on his mind. Everything is so slow. That’s what makes Luka so hard to guard,” Spurs center Zach Collins tells me. “You’ll be guarding him and he’ll look like he’s shooting and all of a sudden he sees something at the very end before he hits the ground. It seems like (Victor) is doing that now, especially with the last-second lobs on Jeremy (Sochan). It seems like he’s developing that ability.”

These plays illustrate Wembanyama’s aforementioned cause and effect: the deadlier he is as a scorer, the more devastating his passes are. The best example so far comes from the crucial phase of the aforementioned duel with Nikola Jokic in Denver, when he rose from 30 feet and three (three!) Nuggets tried to block his shot. It left two Spurs wide open in the paint.

A number of Wembanyama’s assists go to Sochan. His teammates were particularly overwhelmed in the fourth quarter of their recent win against the Hawks. “It felt like it hit the ceiling, he threw it so high,” Collins said. “And to me it looked like a terrible pass… I didn’t know where it was going until Jeremy caught it and lowered it.”

“That was pretty…” Sochan searches for the right word before laughing. “We are both European players so we are not selfish and we really care about and respect team basketball. I think we know with each other, we’re going to cut it, we’re going to look for each other and just read, react.”

Wembanyama is averaging the same number of assists as he did last season (when he showed real potential with some highlights), but there are contextual factors – like the various advantages of having Chris Paul as his point guard – that make it difficult for Basic make numbers to track his improvement.

He is inventive in the way that someone with access to new technology can achieve things that previous generations could only dream of. His arms are long enough to wrap a pass around defenders who would otherwise block him, and his hands are big enough to wrap around the ball like a grape and throw no-look passes before the defense bats an eye can.

No matter who is guarding him, Wemby’s eyes control the air traffic and the game. “He’s the biggest player out there,” Spurs point guard Tre Jones said. “So he is able to take his readings, carry out his movements and have an overview of the entire floor. If he takes his time, he can make anything happen.”

That means locating open teammates before throwing a sideline-to-sideline line drive in the face of a swarming double team…

Or firing arrows at the cutters sliding behind them helps defenders who can’t take their eyes off the ball:

“He’s able to make passes that you only really see from certain players in the entire NBA. As a 7-5 player, he is capable of making pocket passes. He is able to make jumps across the field. He takes jump shots and sees guys on his perimeter,” Jones said. “I think the best way to describe it is that it is simply a gift given to him by God.”

In late November, Wembanyama paced the Warriors with five assists in the fourth quarter of a comeback. He made smart decisions off the dribble, in one instance driving past Brandin Podziemski (a guard!) on the left as defenders struggled to cut him off – something very few big men can do – before giving Julian Champagnie a perfect lob toss:

Wembanyama does a good job of combining simple, effective reading, drawn from extensive film study and advice from experienced teammates (like Paul), with spontaneous bursts of paranormal activity. But sometimes the overconfidence endemic among aspiring NBA superstars plunges headlong into the typical growing pains suffered by a 21-year-old with enormous mutual responsibilities. The result is unforced errors that the Spurs would certainly like to avoid. His turnover rate is currently in the 33rd percentile of all big men, and his 1.74 bad pass turnovers per game are the second highest among all Some Are Wild. Others would have been the right idea if his teammates thought he was brave enough to do them.

At this point, however, what matters most is Wembanyama’s willingness to be bold. Have a franchise center that (a) can read the court and (b) wants Making life easier for his teammates brings countless long-term benefits to a Spurs organization still unsure of how best to build Wembanyama. His game is diverse and brings with it unrecognizable advantages. He already leads the NBA in blocks. He could end up leading the league in scoring. However, the pass is crucial. It expands the list of players that make sense in its environment and reduces the types that aren’t compatible.

Spurs guard Malaki Branham mentions Jokic when I ask his opinion on Wemby’s potential impact as a builder. “It’s going to be crazy how he’s going to pass the ball,” he says. “He’s going to get triple-doubles every night, man.”

As the Spurs go to great lengths to attract top talent, Wembanyama’s playmaking raises a fundamental question that should scare every other NBA team even more: How could anyone watch this guy without wanting to be his teammate? “It makes the game so much easier knowing that a guy like him, who can potentially score a basket on every play, can do it.” Right “I play most of the time,” said Spurs rookie Stephon Castle. “It makes the game more fun, but it (also) gives our team the best chance to win.”

Michael Pina

Michael Pina is a senior writer at The Ringer covering the NBA.