One of the most exciting players to enter the NBA is facing one of his biggest challenges tonight. Victor Wembanyama, playing his fourth game of his rookie season, is playing his first TNT game, as well as taking on Kevin Durant for the first time. In his first three games, Wemby has shown his defensive prowess and flair of offense.
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Before his debut TNT game, Shaquille O’Neal and the Inside guys sat down and discussed the rookie phenom. Ernie Johnson started it off by sharing an incident of Wemby’s humility after the Spurs got trashed by the Clippers. While most people want to see Wemby soar and shoot, Kenny Smith doesn’t feel the same way.
“His defensive efforts. I think the way he affects the ball with his ability to get deflections, to block shots, to alter shots is underrated cause everyone is looking at ‘Did he get 20, did he get 30?’ How he affects the game defensively is his best attribute. His offense will catch up.”
At that point, Ernie brought up an interesting stat. Victor Wembanyama is the 5th player since the NBA/ABA merger to have 40 points, 20 rebounds, 5 steals and 5 blocks in his first 3 games. The other four are Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Lamar Odom, and Evan Mobley.
When asked Shaq about Wemby, the Big Diesel started by asking, “I ain’t on that list?”
Shaq was sure he had the points and the rebounds, but then EJ clarified that blocks and steals count too. That’s when Shaq said, “I ain’t got no steals.” After that, he shared his assessment of Wemby.
“I must say I’m very impressed. He’s 19 years old, I’m not going to be hard on him yet. New age big man, he can definitely step out and do that[clip of Wemby shooting a 3-pointer plays]. Very powerful on the defensive end. I would like to see him post up a little. Listen Ernie, I have no complaints with his game. You know he plays the right way, he plays hard. If he’s not getting a rebound, he runs the floor. As the President of the Big Man Alliance, I must say that he’ll receive an early entrance. I won’t be criticizing him much cause I really like the way he plays.”
To receive that kind of praise from legends like Shaq and Kenny is a big honor. Hopefully, Wemby manages to stay in their good books, unlike his French countryman Rudy Gobert.
Victor Wembanyama dressing up as Slenderman led to Shaq getting dissed
Considering it’s Victor’s first Halloween in the NBA, he decided to play to his strengths and showed up as Slenderman. Entering the footprint center, we saw the French rookie give us the Slenderman walk. The Inside Crew saw the same, which led for a hilarious conversation.
Shaq could not understand what Wemby was dressed up as, and Charles Barkley was surprised. He asked, “You don’t know Slenderman?!”
Shaq said no, to which Chuck replied, “That’s because you’ve never been slim.”
It was a brilliant setup for a perfect punch line. On the other hand, Shaq himself jazzed up his Halloween fit, showing up to work as Emo Jimmy.
It’s spectacular how the Inside Crew add more value to the viewer’s experience with the little antics and things they do.
