Victor Wembanyama is going to be one of the best European prospects to enter the NBA in the next few years. The ASVEL wonderkid showed some flashes of his talent during ASVEL’s 68-72 win vs Zalgiris.
Wembanyama tallied a career-high 14 points and 5 blocks dominating the Zalgiris’ bigs and forcing their opponents to shoot 28 threes in the game.
The ASVEl’s prospect left Zalgirio arena with career-highs in points (14), blocks (5), steals (2), assists (2), minutes (29), and performance index rating (23).
This was the eighth consecutive start for Wembanyama closing last night’s game with the rest of the Villeurbanne’s starters.
“[Wembanyama] is a kid who listens. He wants to get better. It is not easy for him because he has his type of body. He has to get stronger, and he works every day really hard,” ASVEL’s coach TJ Parker said in the press conference after the game.
The French big became the youngest player ever to reject that many shots in a EuroLeague game.
“Wembanyama is a big guy in the ‘4’ position,” Zalgiris Kaunas head coach Jure Zdovc said in the aftermath of his team’s loss.
“We didn’t prepare against him scoring one-on-one. He was on offensive rebounds, on some switching situations. He is really long. I knew it also from last year because I was in France and he was with Nanterre,” the veteran coach continued.
Wembanyama’s currently eligible for the 2023 NBA Draft, but if the NBA change the age limit he will be available in the 2022 draft class. He is projected as the No.1 pick in several mock drafts since last year.
“He deserves the minutes he gets on the court and if he keeps listening the way he is, he will get more and more playing time. He is a guy I also trust to be at the end of the game. He is big for us,” Parker stated.
Wembanyama has 11 EuroLeague games under his belt. He will probably add a couple more in a very successful season for him. Through those 11 games, the French prospect is averaging 16.7 minutes per game, while having eight starts in his debut season in the competition.
“I think it is just the natural course of things,” the promising big said after the win against Zalgiris. “I know it is just the beginning. I am really confident.
I know this season hasn’t been perfect, there were a lot of things we couldn’t control, collectively and individually, but I know it is the natural way of things. It is going to be better and better.”
