Victor Wembanyama impressed in his first taste of the NBA. After an inconsistent start, the Frenchman took off in his second game in the NBA with 27 points, 12 rebounds, 1 steal and 3 blocks. Scary for the rest? Relative.
It’s the NBA Summer League, a competition that has little or nothing to do with reality. Or so says the history of it, with only three players crowned MVP of the summer tournament since 2006 having played in the regular All-Star Game: Blake Griffin (2009), John Wall (2010) and Damian Lillard (2012).
In the list of great Summer League players, there are cases of all kinds and conditions.
The first was Randy Foye (2006), with only two lifetime Playoff appearances. 2007 was taken by Nate Robinson, who although he has moments of brilliance like those 2013 Playoffs with the Bulls or that dunk contest against Dwight Howard, he never reached what he promised.
Or some unknown, like 2012’s Josh Selby who ended up in the Lithuanian league.
Wembanyama, en accin.
It also happens with champion teams. A relevant case was the Los Angeles Lakers, champions of the 2017 edition in a final against the Portland Trail Blazers in which Kyle Kuzma scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
In that squad there were other current NBA players like Ivica Zubac, Matt Thomas, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Alex Caruso, Thomas Bryant and Lonzo Ball.
In the NBA, failure was the dominant note with the gold and purple, with two losing seasons (35-47 and 37-45). It had to be a mega-transfer in the summer of 2019 in which Ingram, Ball and Hart, key players in that Summer League, left in exchange for Anthony Davis who made the Lakers champions in the Orlando bubble.
Kuzma, en su MVP.
Even the worst No.1 in history…
Summer League differs so much from reality that it even hits the number 1 draft picks. Wembanyama has a mirror not to look into in Anthony Bennett, the worst No. 1 of all time.
The Canadian played his first Summer League as a first-round pick and averaged a staggering 16.1 points and 9.4 rebounds for the Cavs. No one in the NBA remembers any good games from him.
“I think I can still do more to help my team more, we have to keep learning. There’s more space, you go faster. I’m the target of many fouls. The important thing is still my ability to balance myself, both on the court and with my body,” analyzed ‘Wemby‘ after his first night. He is also aware of what a “deceptive competition” is and what it is not.
