“Trying to Shoot Over a 7-Feet-5 Praying Mantis”: ESPN’s Mark Jones Uses Unique Analogy for Victor Wembanyama

The San Antonio Spurs played the Milwaukee Bucks in an away game at the Fiserv Forum yesterday. The game ended in disappointment for the visiting team as they lost 105-121, extending their losing streak to three games. It was a terrible outing for the Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, but he earned a potentially new moniker.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Bucks were leading 91-78. One on possession, Bobby Portis Jr. received a pass from Khris Middleton and went for an easy layup. But with Wemby standing right under the bucket, it wasn’t going to be easy.

The 29-year-old missed back-to-back attempts before Wemby grabbed the ball and passed it to Tre Jones. The Spurs added two points on this possession and Jones also drew a foul against Brook Lopez. While watching the replay of Portis Jr.’s attempts for a layup against Wemby, Mark Jones, who was on the mic alongside Jay Bilas, came up with a unique analogy.

He said, “It’s like trying to shoot over a 7’5 praying mantis.” Wemby has received several monikers since he joined the league, such as ‘Unicorn’ and ‘Alien.’ The Spurs star has previously stated that he doesn’t like to be called a Unicorn and he’d much rather be called Alien. It will be interesting to know what he thinks of another possible nickname, ‘Praying Mantis.’

“It’s like trying to shoot over a 7’5” praying mantis” says the ESPN commentator about Victor Wembanyama. #PorVida #FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/p9lGcGfPhY

— SpursRΞPORTΞR (@SpursReporter) January 9, 2025

The analogy may be confusing to many as Jones didn’t explain comparing Wemby to a praying mantis. However, Bilas’ comment might put things in perspective to some degree. He said, “It’s really remarkable, the length of his arms and how he can time things out to really go after that ball in the air.”

While Wemby received praise for his dominating presence on the floor, he had one of his worst outings against the Bucks. The Spurs star could only manage to put 10 points on the sheet while shooting 4/10 from the field and 2/6 from the three-point line. He did manage to hold down the defensive end of the floor for his team.

Wemby secured 10 boards, including six defensive rebounds, and had two steals and three blocks. The Spurs were outscored by the home team in three of the four quarters and they couldn’t recover from the second-quarter onslaught where the Bucks outscored them by 15 points.