Three-time NBA champion BJ Armstrong was on the ‘Hoop Genius’ podcast recently when he touched on the rising profile of Victor Wembanyama. Like many, the 1994 All-Star wanted to see the Alien tack on a few more pounds of muscle to his unique frame.
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“In my opinion, he’s got to get physically stronger,” Armstrong said. “Just stronger enough to be able to play through that level of contact.”
The Chicago Bulls legend was referring to the level of contact Wembanyama had to face against Giannis Antetokounmpo on Wednesday night. The Greek Freak absolutely overpowered the sophomore star, walling up against him on defense and running through his chest on offense to secure a 121-105 win for his Bucks.
“Everyone’s gonna try to do that with him, but everyone doesn’t have a Giannis,” Armstrong reflected. “He [Wembanyama] will be fine, he’ll learn from it and he’ll move on. He’ll make adjustments.”
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Given his competitive spirit, Wembanyama is certainly going to learn from his difficulties matching up against Antetokounmpo. The two-time MVP held the 2024 Rookie of the Year to just 10 points. It was his lowest scoring game since October and was in stark contrast to his high level of play recently.
The 21-year-old dominated the entire league in December, finishing out the month with averages of 28.5 points, 10 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 4.4 blocks per game. He followed it up with some more dominance during the back-to-back matchups between the Spurs and Nuggets, tallying 41 rebounds and 55 points across the two games.
Despite Giannis’ incredible defensive chops, Wembanyama had a better showing against him in his rookie year. As the Frenchman’s profile rises and he cements his status as a top 10 player in the league, competitors like Antetokounmpo are inevitably going to play harder against him to prove a point.
In this case, the point was that the Alien still has some catching up to do if he wants to surpass the Greek Freak. And paying heed to BJ Armstrong’s advice will go a long way in covering that distance.
So far this season, the 7’3” center is shooting from the three-point line more often than he is shooting from the charity stripe. This is certainly a good counter to physicality as it has helped Wemby generate offense without taking too much of a beating in the paint.
But he knows that tacking on more muscle will be necessary for him to sustain a long career at his position. After all, so much of Antetokounmpo’s rise was also spearheaded by his physical development. Wembanyama certainly recognizes this.
Coming into his second NBA season, the French star had already added over 20 pounds of muscle to his frame. “We really put an emphasis on gaining strength and like court strength. Not gaining weight necessarily, but weight will come with strength. It’s just a result of the good work we’ve done all summer,” the Frenchman said at the start of the season.
That added strength has helped Victor stay on the court and hold his own against the more physically imposing bigs in the league. However, it’s important to remember that he is still far from his physical prime.
