The debate over the best basketball players of all time is usually a hot-button topic on social media. You’ll often see Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James debates, which can get quite heated. And you will then get old-school fans claiming that players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain are the G.O.A.T.s; you might even see those saying that it is, in fact, Kobe Bryant who deserves to be on top.
What connects them all, aside from being undisputedly great? They are all American, which is fair enough in an American sports league in a sport discipline largely popularized and dominated by that country. But 50 years from now, might the conversation of the all-time greats be more cosmopolitan?
Consider that no American has won the covered regular-season MVP award since 2018. The current holder and NBA MVP betting odds favorite once again is Canadian star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The person cited as the best player in the world over the last five years, Nikola Jokic, is Serbian. The player who was overtaken in that conversation by Jokic is a Greek, Giannis Antetokounmpo. There’s been a massive change in the league.
Wembanyama Already in MVP Conversation
Which takes us to Victor Wembanyama. He’s just turned 22. He stands 7 feet 4 inches tall, and he has the world at his feet. The young Frenchman has had his breakout in his 3rd season. It’s not that he was in any way not startlingly good in his debut and second seasons; he won Rookie of the Year. But he is now in the conversation for being “that guy,” the franchise star who looks ready to take the league by the scruff of the neck and make it his own.
The truth is that we do not know how far he can go at this early stage in his career. Sports can be cruel, so something like a serious injury or an inexplicable drop in form can suddenly change a career. But there are so many reasons to be positive that the trajectory he is on – and let’s be clear, he’s not there yet – will put him in the conversation for the top players of the era. We will stop short of saying that it will definitely put him in the conversation of the greatest players in history, because there are too many variables, but it’s enough to say that it is still possible.
Frenchman’s Game is Evolving
What we, and many others, have loved about Wembanyama’s game is that it is clearly evolving at a rapid rate. He entered the league as an elite defender, and he has led the league in blocks per game in each of his three seasons. But there has been a steady improvement in other areas, including rebounds and points per game, finishing the latter with a very healthy 25 PPG. To put that in perspective, LeBron James – the NBA’s all-time leading point scorer – has a PPG average of around 26.7.
Another exciting element is that Wembanyama has taken to the NBA Playoffs like a duck to water. His first couple of seasons with San Antonio were part of a rebuild for the Spurs, but the team is now viewed as a championship contender, and Wembanyama is key to those hopes.
And that, in the end, is where the barometer of greatness will live and die. All of those great players we mentioned in the first paragraph were all serial winners, with an almost uncountable number of championships, All-Star and Finals MVPs between them. That’s the ceiling that the towering young Frenchman has to aim for.
