Wembanyama wows with 40-point performance

DALLAS — Victor Wembanyama stood next to Julian Champagnie in front of the scorer’s table at American Airlines Center, admiring his work.

His conclusion?

«That was niiiice.»

Minutes earlier, the Frenchman pump-faked, sending P.J. Washington skyward, then took one dribble toward the basket for a thunderous, reverse windmill dunk that rattled the miked-up rim, sending the San Antonio Spurs bench into a frenzy. Pacing a 125-92 stomping of the Dallas Mavericks, Wembanyama showed off Wednesday all that he gleaned from a transformative summer that changed him physically and mentally.

«[I was] much more in control of myself,» Wembanyama said. «The mind, I’m not worried about [that] because I saw what it’s like to be confronted with potentially losing a lot, whether it’s your career or your health. So I’m not taking this for granted anymore. The body? I’m having more fun now that I’m not struggling to move as much. I know I still need to get better, and I’m still going to get better.»

The blocks, dunks, shots, the refined footwork and post moves — not to mention the intuition to know how to best deploy them — belied the fact that Wembanyama hadn’t played in an NBA game in 8 months, 11 days prior to the win over the Mavericks. Residual rust was nonexistent as Wembanyama ran roughshod, becoming the first player since 1977-78 to score 40 points with 15 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 0 turnovers while shooting 70% from the field.

Wembanyama’s 40 points are the most for a player in a season opener in San Antonio franchise history.

«He’s been out eight months,» Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. «So you saw him take the moment and play spectacular. But honestly, the most impressive line [is] zero turnovers. The amount of fundamentally sound plays he made tonight was impressive.»

Dallas started the game with its big lineup featuring Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II manning the frontcourt. Wembanyama chewed through that group, hitting 4 of 5 shots for 11 points with a block in the opening frame. Faking a pass out on the wing to Harrison Barnes, Wembanyama froze No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg just long enough to gain a step on the rookie for a driving tomahawk dunk. Not long after, Wembanyama set up No. 2 pick Dylan Harper for his first career assist. The Frenchman pump-faked Lively to get him into the air then tossed it back to the Spurs rookie at the top of the key.

Harper immediately flung it back to Wembanyama on a give-and-go for a two-handed jam over Lively.

«Man, the guy’s 7-3,» Davis said. «I think some of the foul calls were a little bit questionable. But when he’s 7-3 and stands in front of you, nobody’s going to block a shot. He’s shooting over the top. At that point, you just pray he misses.»

That is tough now that Wembanyama’s teammates have found ways to get him high-percentage shots. With 8:28 remaining before intermission, second-year guard Stephon Castle fired an alley-oop in transition to Wembanyama, who was streaking past Dwight Powell, for a reverse dunk. It’s clear that last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year spent the offseason working with Wembanyama on their chemistry.

Castle and Wembanyama either scored or assisted on 42 of San Antonio’s 60 first-half points as the Spurs led by nine at the break.

«[It’s] just a lot of reps, a lot of watching film together,» Castle said. «I feel like that helps and gets overlooked a lot. Being able to watch film with a guy you’re going to do a lot of pick-and-rolls with and have a lot of transition buckets definitely helped. Being able to know where he likes the ball at with a double-team, where they’re going to come from. Man, we’ve been working on that all summer, and it’s starting to shape itself out.»

Wembanyama notched perhaps his most impressive highlight of the night during a 10-point, third-quarter burst in which he shot 3-of-4 with 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal. Wembanyama smacked away a Lively shot at the rim that Castle quickly connected to initiate a fast break. The guard immediately tossed the ball back to Wembanyama, who faked inside before nailing a step-back 3 as Lively committed a foul.

Wembanyama completed the four-point play to boost San Antonio’s lead to 14 points.

«He is incredible. He is a different player,» Flagg said. «You can’t know what it’s like until you’re out there on the court with him. It’s something I’ve never seen before. He was great tonight, but we’ve got to do a better job of trying to just take away some of his looks, and we can’t foul him as much as we did.»

Johnson subbed out Wembanyama shortly after he connected on a 13-foot fadeaway that put the Spurs up by 30. At that point, Wembanyama admitted, he started to reflect on his summer of transformation and the long journey started in February by a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis.

«It feels like every day we try to lay a brick to build a huge mansion, and it felt like the job was done for the day,» Wembanyama said. «This is what we’ve been working for. This is what we’ve struggled for, for so long, and I just felt like it fits. I felt like I was in my place.

«We needed to make a statement in our locker room. The feeling really was that there wasn’t anything we really could have done more to help us today. It felt like we did everything we needed to do. We felt ready, and we felt like we wouldn’t have any regret about things we should have worked on or things we should have done in the summer. I was comfortable with the work we put in and with the preparation up to this point. Now all the dice are thrown in the Western Conference.»