SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor “Wemby” Wembanyama and Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis put on a show at the Frost Bank Center on Wednesday.
Davis had 37 points and 10 rebounds, while Wembanyama had 30 points, 13 rebounds, and six blocks.
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Davis, who was selected number one overall in the 2012 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Pelican, is impressed with Wemby.
“He’s extremely talented, a three-level scorer like we’ve seen tonight,” Davis said after the Lakers beat the Spurs 122-119. “It was fun playing against him. Obviously, he’s been talked about a lot from his time overseas, and then to Summer League, and now. The team is struggling, but he’s playing extremely well, and he’s able to keep them in games. They’re young and they play hard, play fast. So, it’s all about him, and he showed why he was the number one pick and leading candidate for rookie of the year.”
Wembanyama, the first overall selection in the 2023 NBA Draft, has an 8-foot wingspan and can recover quickly if an opposing player gets by him.
Lakers guard Austin Reeves knows all about that.
“I thought I had a wide-open layup in the first quarter, maybe second,” Reeves said. “I thought I had a wide-open left-hand layup, and next thing I knew, it was going off the glass at a pretty high speed. But it’s not just that he’s tall, he’s mobile. He’s got good timing. He’s got good hand-eye coordination to get his hands on those shots. So, he’s a very interesting player with a very bright future.”
Los Angeles led 92-74 entering the third quarter and then watched the Spurs outscore them 45-30 and nearly comeback to win.
Wembanyama scored 14 of his 30 points in the final quarter, and that caught the attention of Lakers Head Coach Darvin Ham.
“He doesn’t stop competing,” Ham said. “His shot is coming along. It’s definitely not broken and a little streaky at times, but when the game was hanging in the balance. He made some big plays for them.”
Wembanyama and the Spurs will get another crack at the Lakers on Friday night at the Frost Bank Center.