After defeating the Warriors on the road, the Spurs were not able to follow suit at home, despite having Victor Wembanyama back in the team’s lineup. The game saw some great high-flying action, with fans getting a tomahawk treat from Wemby but also a supposed poster on the French bigman. Although being on the poster is the last thing any NBA star would want, Wemby had a different take on the situation.
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The San Antonio Spurs were unable to fend off a Stephen Curry-less Warriors team, who won the contest with a 112-102 final score. During the final minute of the fourth quarter, Warriors rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis gave fans a sight to behold. The 6’9 forward was able to put Wembanyama on a poster, avoiding his eight-foot wingspan at the rim.
Victor Wembanyama was asked to give his two cents on being posterized during the post-game press conference. As per a post by Tom Orsborn on X, the 20-year-old chose to describe his positive outlook saying,
“Getting dunked on is nothing. It’s part of the game. I dunk on a lot of people and a lot of people dunk on me too. But I think I block more often than I get dunked on, so that’s positive.”
Fans have always tended to blow a few plays out of proportion. For instance, getting your ankles snatched and tripping a player or dunking over someone and putting them on a poster are some plays that are extremely hyped.
While the hype may be justified, there are times when the taunts and mockery that follow after being on the receiving end of such plays tend to get into a player’s head. Take Brandon Knight as the perfect example for such a scenario.
As much as fans would like to deny this, Brandon Knight was just never the same after being humiliated by DeAndre Jordan on that alley-oop dunk. But a 20-year-old Victor Wembanyama on the other hand, seemed absolutely untethered after being dunked on. Instead, the young rookie displayed a level of calmness and level-headed thinking that one would expect out of a veteran.
Judging by Wembanyama’s positive outlook on the whole ordeal, it seems as if the Spurs’ culture is seeping right into his mindset, that too from year one in the league. Moreover, Wemby’s subtle mention of the number of shots blocked this year may have been the perfect rebuttal from a future star who could not be more bothered over the play.
Victor Wembanyama: a shot blocker with no fear of posters
As a shot blocker in the league, players are bound to get dunked on now and then. Even Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo made the occasional feature on a fair share of posters during his 18-year-long NBA career. Yet, Mutombo never allowed such plays to take over his head and the mindset with which he used to approach the game.
And the San Antonio Spurs rookie seems to share that ideology, despite the poster dunk gaining constant traction online. After the game, Wemby had this to say about his fellow rookie, Trayce Jackson-Davis.
“A lot of guys want to come at me like this hard all game.”
As mentioned in the tweet above, TJD did commit an offensive foul while going up for the dunk. If you pay attention to Jackson-Davis’ off-hand, you can clearly see the Warriors rookie holding Victor Wembanyama’s arm mid-air to avoid getting blocked.
While the officials may have missed out on that one, Wembanyama and the rest of the Spurs fans sleep tight knowing that Trayce Jackson-Davis had no choice but to bend the rules to get the one-up on Wemby.
