Rarely could hype deliver in more promising fashion than what Victor Wembanyama authored to open his 2025-26 season Wednesday night. After an All-NBA-caliber campaign (and that’s underselling it) was shortcircuited by a blood clot last February, Wembanyama returned to the floor with a historic performance.
An offseason defined by potential indicators of the 21-year-old phenom ascending to new heights — training with MVP big men, Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Garnett, living among monks at a Shaolin temple in China — was the prologue to Wednesday’s boisterous declaration: Wembanyama is back, healthy and primed to join the league’s utmost superstar pantheon of superstars, reserved for luminaries like Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
In the San Antonio Spurs’ 125-92 romp of the Dallas Mavericks, Wembanyama only exhausted 30 minutes to imprint his gargantuan signature. He dropped 40 points (15-of-21 shooting, 77.4 percent true shooting), 15 rebounds, three blocks, one assist, one steal and zero turnovers.
Unlike his prior scoring binges, though, he didn’t require a flurry of triples to light up the scoreboard. Before Wednesday, he’d logged 40-plus points four times in his career. Those games featured a combined 25 3-pointers. Wembanyama went 1-of-2 from deep to reach that benchmark in his 2025-26 debut.
Instead, the Frenchman imposed his will inside the arc (14-of-19 on twos), flourishing as a dunk machine, midrange maven and free-throw connoisseur. His 14 two-point makes were comfortably a career-high, zipping past its predecessor of 10.
Wembanyama and San Antonio’s effervescent showing offensively suggests a higher ceiling on that end than many expect this year, despite a select number of serviceable shooters in the rotation. With Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper and De’Aaron Fox (once healthy) at the helm, the Spurs should feast around the hoop — a sound place at which to build an offensive foundation.
According to Cleaning the Glass, they generated a 41 percent rim frequency, shot 75 percent there and posted a 125.3 offensive rating (before garbage time) against the Mavericks. Wembanyama (40 percent frequency, 7-of-8 shooting) is the impetus behind those results, buoyed by Castle (56 percent, 6-of-7) and Harper’s (57 percent, 4-of-7) efforts.
Throughout the preseason, Wembanyama flashed newfound strength enabling him to carve out deeper positioning and create more beneficial angles. That translated Wednesday. Whether it was Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively II or P.J. Washington, he was less encumbered by physicality than prior years. He looked sturdier and more on balance against contact, equipped to play through it, discard defenders and continue on his way with a live dribble.
Of course, he remains 7 feet 4 inches (at worst) with an 8-foot wingspan and the type of pliability generally found in players 10-12 inches shorter. So, Wembanyama blended all of these tools — strength, length, flexibility and a viable handle — to wreak havoc as a creator. Whereas his size and flexibility once seemed hamstrung by his underwhelming strength relative to NBA bigs, they now appear amplified, coalescing to bear a terrifyingly domineering interior scorer.
As a rookie, 74 percent of his field goals were assisted, per Cleaning the Glass. Last year, it crept up to 76 percent. To begin 2025-26, 47 percent of his makes came via assists. Really, the Spurs just let their towering anomaly cook more regularly. Compared to 2024-25, his time of possession increased from 2.3 to 3.6 while his dribbles per touch nearly doubled from 1.2 to 2.35, per NBA.com.
And yet, despite the vast playground they encouraged him to explore, they didn’t forget he’s perhaps the league’s most imposing play-finisher. He recorded seven(!!) dunks, five of which were assisted, led by talented young playmakers in Harper and Castle. Across his first two seasons, 14 percent of his field goals were dunks. That ballooned to 38.1 percent Wednesday.
His catch radius could be a prop from Roger Rabbit’s Toontown, his mobility a magic carpet ride to track any pass, no matter how far-fetched. Toss that sucker up, out, over or around and Wembanyama will slam it home. Dallas and its stockpile of bigs surely know as much now.
Although Wembanyama merely dipped his toes into the long-range lakes, he still wielded his shooting touch all over the floor. He went 7-of-11 (64 percent) from midrange, repeatedly accessing release points even Davis and Lively couldn’t impede. This is where his creation shone most brightly in contrast to previous seasons. Twenty-nine percent of his midrange makes were assisted, a steep decline from 2023-24 (75 percent) and 2024-25 (73 percent).
A 52 percent midrange rate with so little arriving from assists is probably not a blueprint he should follow moving forward; mixing in a few more threes, given his versatility and the attention he commands from deep, could be optimal. But for one night, it helped capture the varying avenues through which he is such a great high-volume scorer.
It would not be a shock for Wembanyama to take home the league’s scoring crown this season, though Luka Doncic, Gilgeous-Alexander and Antetokounmpo are certainly stiff competitors. He can operate from midrange, spray plenty of threes and host a one-man dunk contest, with opponents hard-pressed to slow any method.
Wembanyama didn’t resign himself to solely shooting over the the top of defenders as some finesse big man either. He burrowed his shoulder and wiggled into advantageous spots, demanding the Mavericks foul him or concede a close range shot — the ever-present threat of his sprawling arms to render those looks no-doubt layups and dunks.
During the first 117 games of his career, he attempted 11 free throws six times, a number he matched Wednesday in under 30 minutes. Dallas’ entire starting front-court was caught in foul trouble, with Lively (five), Davis (four) and Washington (four) committing 13 in a combined 71 minutes, seven of which occurred against Wembanyama.
It’s another result of his improved strength. He’s less susceptible to being knocked off his path and appearing overmatched. Foul-drawing is partly about optics. Look like the one dictating the situation and officials will grant you the benefit of the doubt. That’s easier to achieve with a strength advantage. Wembanyama embodied it.
Between the midrange artistry and dunk-filled bonanza, Wembanyama’s start to year three resembled an intersection of Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant. Much like the man in Milwaukee, dunks are a luxury he’s turned into a regularity with his distinct physical gifts. Similar to the sojourning Slim Reaper, shot variance is the only way to influence his midrange jumper.
Now, Wembayana is not yet the chiseled slasher of Antetokounmpo (much longer and taller, though), nor the accomplished midrange marvel of Durant. Wednesday provided glimpses of how he can weaponize his added strength and what silky, efficient intermediate scoring ignites. They’re major reasons why San Antonio outscored Dallas by 31 points during his 30 minutes, a preposterously dominant per-minute impact.
That impact isn’t likely to subside much this year. For all the rightful talk about his bountiful offense, he reminded everyone of his unparalleled defense, too. He collected three blocks and played a significant role in Anthony Davis’ 7-of-22 shooting night. Dallas shot 4-of-14 (29 percent) at the rim with Wembanyama on the floor. The Spurs allowed 50 points during his 30 minutes (80.6 defensive rating).
This is the world’s most menacing defender who may be reaching superstar levels offensively. He did for a night, like he often did last season. It has the Spurs 1-0 and Wembanyama trekking even closer to the top of the league’s hierarchy.
