With each passing day, we are getting closer to the swan song of legendary players like LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. However, the current crop of young stars in the league, led by Victor Wembanyama and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander prove that the NBA is in good hands. One trait that allows the NBA to trust them with its future is their incredible maturity despite their young age.
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Victor Wembanyama and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recently went head-to-head in a highly anticipated duel in the semifinals of the NBA Cup. Before the two battled on the court, they fulfilled their media obligations leading up to the big game. In their respective interviews with Taylor Rooks, the two superstars displayed a level of maturity befitting a 10-year veteran.
Rooks asked Wembanyama a question aimed to inject fuel to the existing rivalry between the Spurs star and Chet Holmgren. Instead of falling for the bait, Wemby provided a mature and unique response.
“The MVP’s on that court, he is our main focus,” Wembanyama said. “Anybody is hard to guard when you have to help on the MVP.”
Wembanyama was able to handle that question with grace. Gilgeous-Alexander, on the other hand, received a question which many will argue has much more weight.
Recently, Steve Nash compared the reigning league MVP to the legendary Michael Jordan. Rooks asked the Thunder star for his opinion on those comments. It would be easy for SGA to let pride seep into his response but he ensured that wasn’t the case.
“Pretty insane. I don’t really love the comparisons just because he’s done so many things for the game of basketball. If you ask me, though, I’m still very very far away. I got a lot of work to do,” Gilgeous-Alexander proclaimed.
That is high levels of maturity from both sides, which Griffin couldn’t help but notice. Following the Spurs’ entertaining win, Griffin used the post-game show to question what went wrong with him in comparison to these two stars.
“I’m just sitting here listening to [Wembanyama] talk with so much poise and maturity. Then we see SGA talk with so much poise and maturity. I’m like, what happened to me? What was I doing at 21?” Griffin said.
Well, Mr. Griffin, when you were 21, you made an All-Star team in your rookie season. By no means is the former Clippers star a scrub! Of course, Griffin wasn’t insinuating that he was, but more so shedding light on how rare it is for young players to have this mindset.
The NBA is constantly evolving, and it seems the mental game is an area of progression as well. “They are so far ahead of their time. I get goosebumps because that’s the future of the league,” Griffin exclaimed. To the delight of fans across the world, there will be many more years to come while these two continue to assert their dominance.
