How the seeds of a new-age rivalry are planted
San Antonio's preseason schedule offers an entertaining glimpse of what could be some contentious matchups for years to come.
Prior to Monday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sean Elliott became the latest media member to attempt a public plea for patience into a microphone as the Victor Wembanyama hysteria approached peak levels.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen San Antonio this excited over a draft pick, and I feel like this year I’m gonna have to continue to tell the fans to just taaaaake a deep breath. Inhale slowly, exhale slowly, ‘ahhhhh,’” he said to broadcast partner Bill Land. “I see so much hype and hoopla … he’s gonna take his lumps this season, and there are gonna be times where he looks absolutely spectacular, but you can’t get carried away no matter what he does.
“This is a process, and I’m gonna continue to remind Spurs fans that he’s only 19 years old,” Elliott continued. “He is so far from a finished product.”
The effort to establish perspective among fans for a teenager entering the best basketball league on the planet is noble, but unfortunately for Sean, that hype train had already reached Mach speeds. And by the end of the night, it had sailed off the end of the rails, sprouted wings and taken off into Earth’s orbit.
Somehow, Wembanyama’s first NBA performance exceeded all the impossibly high expectations, and singling out just one defining moment from the evening is an impossible task.
Perhaps it was his first touch of the game, on which he took a handoff in semi-transition along the right wing, dribbled baseline and hit Zach Collins with a perfect wraparound pass in the middle of the paint; or the spin move over his right shoulder that led to an up-and-under, lefty-scoop layup on the opposite side of the basket; or the left-to-right, between-the-legs dribble into a finish through contact and a foul; or the drifting 3-pointer from the top of the key coming out of yet another handoff; or the recovery for a blocked shot after Jalen Williams had crossed him over and blown by him for what appeared to be an easy finish; or maybe it was the sequence during which Wembanyama forced a badly missed 3-pointer from the corner, then seconds later swiped down from the top of the key to force a steal before leaking out for a dunk in transition.
Even considering the preseason setting, his performance showcased why it’s perfectly reasonable to suggest Wembanyama is bound for superstardom so long as injuries don’t derail his career. It’s not an overreaction. It’s not prisoner of the moment. He can do literally everything on the court from a perch several inches above even his tallest opponents, and it’s going to be a treat watching him iron out the kinks over the next several years. There’s still A TON to work on, but the point of this article is not to try and bring the aforementioned orbiting hype train back to Earth, but to zoom out and peer down the pike. Because the fun has only just begun.
Across from Wembanyama and the Spurs were the Oklahoma City Thunder, who actually came back from a sizable early deficit and won the game, 122-121, without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But Chet Holmgren, the closest analogue to Wemby among the league’s newest crop of young stars and one of the primary Rookie of the Year candidates, put on a show of his own. At at least 7’1, he was pulling up for 3s off the dribble, driving past defenders to the rim, catching and finishing lobs over big defenders and stifling attempts around the rim.
It was a back-and-forth game between two aliens who have only just landed, setting up the potential for a basketball future we haven’t before seen or, as of only a few years ago, perhaps hadn’t even considered.
“Just sitting on the bench, I’m like [shocked face]. They’re both unicorns. They both can score, they’re both tall, they both can basically do the same things,” Blake Wesley said after Tuesday’s practice. “It’s fun to watch them play, and especially fun to have Victor on the team. All the doubters he had during Summer League, it doesn’t mean anything. He’s coming on strong, he’s gonna be there, he’s ready to play.”
And that’s the other somewhat unexpected element in all of this: In their first actual NBA action, both players were unquestionably the primary focuses. There was no easing into the situation for either rookie, as it was full go from the tip. But it wasn’t just the basketball — it was the posturing, too. While the two have made clear their respect for one another, it does not seem there’s a ton of love on the court. And frankly, we basketball enthusiasts wouldn’t have it any other way.
In the first quarter, Wembanyama drove at Holmgren and lowered his head right into the face of the Thunder big man before laying it in. Holmgren, who slid over a little late and made contact just before taking the punishment, was called for a foul as Wembanyama yelled and flexed his sinewy arms to celebrate the “and one.”
Moments later, the even-more-sinewy Holmgren dribbled the ball up the floor in semi-transition, attacked Zach Collins at the basket, hung in the air and converted an “and one” of his own before returning the favor with a follow-up flex.
And let’s add another moment while we’re at it. In the second quarter, Wembanyama thwarted another Holmgren attempt at an old-fashioned three-point play by swiping down hard on the ball after Chet had already been fouled, sending him to the floor. Today’s NBA is full of the help-a-guy-up type of player, but Wemby just stood there without an offer of assistance. He wasn’t staring anyone down or trying to make a loud statement, he just wasn’t interested in extending his hand.
While the basketball itself acts as the foundation, it’s these seedlings of a reignited Spurs-Thunder rivalry that will fuel interest, and perhaps some harbored animosity. Just think: Spurs-Mavs, Spurs-Suns and Spurs-Lakers wouldn’t have had nearly the same intrigue had everyone been friendly with one another. Those matchups were personal, and anyone watching could feel it through their television screen. Now, as we look ahead to a new era between two teams with young, competitive talent, similar timelines and the same end goal in mind, it seems obvious the ingredients for a potentially dangerous cocktail are being thrown in the blender.
But even as the fireworks went off during the Wemby-Chet battle on Monday, neither was baited into some kind of one-on-one duel. Impressively, they each played within the flow of the offense, as if they’d been doing this for a while.
“I thought they went at each other a couple of times. It shows their character, their competitiveness, and they did it within reason,” Gregg Popovich told reporters in Oklahoma City. “Neither one was shooting horrible shots to try and do the other in or anything. It was basic basketball that the basketball gods would agree with. They’re going to be a lot of fun for everybody to watch over the years.”
One can only hope. The abundance of player movement during the new age of the NBA has cut off off many budding rivalries at the head, but there’s enough of a common mentality and old-school approach between the Thunder and Spurs that one could envision a future that pits many of these players against one another for the next decade … so long as they make the final cuts when it’s time to win.
It’s impossible to say exactly who will make up the finished products given each team’s rebuilding status, but both front offices place a premium on continuity and developing talent in the building. They want to win with their guys, and they want those guys to stick around for the long haul.
At the top, however, it’s all about Wembanyama and Holmgren (and SGA, of course) — the two unicorns who had even their own teammates and coaches enthralled during a preseason game. With a little luck, and perhaps some grace from those basketball gods Pop so reveres, we’ll be able to watch them grow together.
All it took was one evening for the viewing public to justifiably lose its collective breath, a reaction that may become commonplace until we all somehow grow accustomed to what we’re watching. And in the coming days, the Wembanyama experience will take center stage against yet another familiar foe.
Following Friday night’s matchup with the veteran Miami Heat, the young, brash Houston Rockets come to town for a couple of games. If ever there was a team or fan base out for San Antonio blood, it’s that one, and it’s got a collection of talent potentially capable of sliding in step for step along the same trajectory as the Spurs and Thunder should it properly develop. The most intriguing element of San Antonio’s preseason slate is the chance to steal a glimpse of what the future might hold, both for the Spurs and a couple of their interstate rivals. And if Wembanyama shows out against the Rockets, any remaining measures in place to help this city contain its composure may be rendered useless.
During halftime on Monday night, Land made it a point to challenge Elliott on his opening monologue, asking if he had taken his own advice in not elevating expectations to an unrealistic level for San Antonio’s newest star.
“Now I need to tell that to myself, because I got hyped,” Elliott said.
It's OK, Sean. The entire basketball world had to do the exact same. If it was even remotely interested in doing so.
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Wonderfully written man! I haven’t been so excited for a preseason game. Lots of fun awaits