Victor Wembanyama’s Playoff Debut Was Worth The Wait

From the moment his team defeated the previous undefeatable Oklahoma City Thunder in December, you could start to hear the whispers: Yes, Victor Wembanyama is the future but is he, could he be, I know it's so soon but maybe is he already, you know, the best player in, well, the NBA?

The whispers grew to a din by the end of the season, with Wembanyama playing such a dominant final four months of the season that he credibly mounted an MVP campaign. The nebulous title of Best Player is, if not Wemby's, then up for grabs in these playoffs for whoever makes it out of the Western Conference. San Antonio is not only a trendy pick to win the title among wised-up NBA observers, oddsmakers have them as the second-most likely winner behind a team they beat four times. That optimism is tempered by a long history of teams like this needing to bleed a little before they hoist a trophy. That's how it works. Breaking the constraints of basketball and physics is cool in February against the Utah Jazz, but the playoffs are different. Other teams face more unforgiving sets of expectations, feel more pressure, and have more at stake this year having incinerated more of their future than the Spurs. But no other team or player presents as large and compelling a mystery than Victor Wembanyama.

Now that the games matter, what will happen? We saw the start of the answer on Sunday night in Wembanyama's playoff debut.