Speaking to fellow former NBA star Gilbert Arenas on his Gil’s Arena podcast, Kenyon Martin talked about the hype Victor Wembanyama has recently produced. Claiming that Wemby’s recent 38-point performances against the Phoenix Suns have resulted in people “overreacting,” Martin said that Wembanyama’s hype has meant networks such as ESPN have made dubious decisions recently.
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Martin talked about how the Boston Celtics-Philadelphia 76ers Eastern Conference clash went till the past possession. Yet, ESPN decided to broadcast the San Antonio Spurs’ loss against the New York Knicks. Martin initially talked about how Wemby’s poor performance meant that the match would have proven anti-climactic.
“Let me just say, that ESPN, **sk**s, y’all didn’t put, Philly and Boston on TV, right? You didn’t put Philly and Boston on TV which is a good matchup, early in the season but they put the rookie on TV and they get the doors blew off,” Martin said, speaking of ESPN’s decision in detail.
He went on to talk about how people didn’t want to watch Wemby’s game as a result of his poor performance. While the 2023 NBA draft’s number 1 pick has started the season strongly, he was not at his best against the Knicks.
This, according to Kenyon Martin, would have resulted in people deciding to switch their TVs off early. Martin talked about how the match between the 76ers and the Celtics was decided in the last possession, while Wemby’s performance proved that he was, despite all the hype, still only a rookie.
“Ratings, people turning to TV, nobody’s watching that, the other game came down to the last possession. This was what, people got overexcited, generational talent, yeah, still a rookie.”
Martin seemed concerned with the increased hype Victor Wembanyama’s impressive start to the season has created. He seems to believe that the kind of expectations that he has already generated are not positive, and fans need to ease off for the time being.
Victor Wembanyama was not at his gangly best against the New York Knicks
Wembanyama has seemed to grow into the Spurs team as the season has progressed. After consistently showing flashes of brilliance initially, he had his best game of the season against the Suns.
Wembanyama’s reach and stature mean that he looks set to evolve into an unstoppable force in the paint rather quickly. Still, against the Knicks, Wemby had his second straight average game with respect to shooting.
Wemby converted just 4 of his 14 attempts against New York, which was a slight improvement on the 3-12 that he managed against the Indiana Pacers. As Gregg Popovich rushes to make the best use of his unique skills, Wembanyama can be expected quite a few quiet nights before he gets truly going, in the league.
