Victor Wembanyama goes to make a lot of historical past in his rookie season in the NBA, and on Thursday, he made a little bit of it that is going to really feel in particular enjoyable. Midway during the recreation, Wembanyama was the primary participant to post no less than 85 issues, 35 rebounds and 10 blocks in his first 5 NBA video games since Shaquille O’Neal again in 1992.
Now, this can be a significant little bit of historical past by itself. Any rookie large guy who matches O’Neal is most certainly on his approach to a horny robust occupation. But for Wembanyama, a Shaq comparability is particularly enjoyable on account of O’Neal’s function as one of the vital recreation’s maximum outstanding critics. Since 2011, O’Neal has been part of the TNT’s Inside the NBA panel, and he once in a while makes issues and comparisons that carry eyebrows a few of the basketball-viewing public. After Tuesday’s Spurs victory over the Phoenix Suns, O’Neal did simply that by means of evaluating Wembanyama to a participant that has performed simplest 4 mins up to now this season.
“I wanna go at Reggie [Miller] a little bit. He talked about how he’s never seen a guy like Wembanyama. Yes you have, his name is Bol Bol,” O’Neal said. The remainder of the TNT staff was once, to put it mildly, stunned by means of O’Neal’s feedback. The former Laker big name persisted that “Wembanyama is just way more consistent than Bol Bol, but Bol Bol is the first seven-footer that we see doing that.”
In equity to O’Neal, Bol Bol is the uncommon large guy that pairs theoretical 3-point capturing and shot-creation with elite duration for defensive functions. Here is the place the comparability falls aside: Bol Bol is now in his 5th NBA season, and he has been a constant a part of a rotation simply as soon as. He is a 29.3% occupation shooter from deep. At his present charge of two blocks in step with recreation, Wembanyama can have extra occupation rejections than Bol by means of round February. If this can be a topic of ceiling moderately than consistency, it is price noting that Bol’s occupation scoring top is 26 issues. On Thursday, Wembanyama crowned that mark prior to the tip of the 3rd quarter. The imprecise define of a comparability has some benefit, however those are two avid gamers in utterly other universes so far as tangible manufacturing is going.
In that sense, Thursday’s newest little bit of Wembanyama historical past was once becoming. The correct comparability right here is not Bol. Despite their obtrusive stylistic variations, Wembanyama now has extra in not unusual with Shaq himself.