Victor Wembanyama has grown into the NBA’s best defender – and he’s still improving

A three-time NBA MVP was on the verge of his signature.

“The Sombor Shuffle” is a mixture of whimsy and skill that only the one man could cook up, a one-legged lift with the release of a football-inbound pass and precision. This one from Nikola Jokić would have been for the win.

With seconds remaining in regulation this past Friday and with Jokić’s Denver Nuggets down by one, the burly center backed up San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama. He drifted to the left block, then turned over his left shoulder and put the basketball behind his head as if he was about to catapult it. No ordinary giant could achieve this.

Alas, Wembanyama, the far-and-away front-runner for Defensive Player of the Year, could make the Titans look like Spud Webb. The Spurs’ second-year stud didn’t block the unblockable shot. Instead, he did something more impressive.

As Jokić disappeared, one of the game’s most composed performers became confused. After Wembanyama’s hand dangled past his eyes and across his forehead, Jokić thought twice about releasing a jumper that a 7-foot-3 beanpole was sure to stop back in his face. Instead, with his feet already in the air and a double team closing in on him, he looked across the court and threw an errant pass into the hands of Spurs rookie Stephon Castle.

The NBA’s leading shot blocker affects shots even when he’s not touching the basketball.

If Wembanyama is in the game, Spurs’ opponents shy away from the edge. Superstars canvas the court before setting up jumpers or driving just to make sure the 21-year-old tower isn’t around. San Antonio allows fewer layups, dunks and floaters with Wembanyama around.

He stands at 7-3, but no one who has stood next to Wembanyama actually believes it. He’s a sky-scraping broomstick with eternal arms, as if “Fantasia” were a horror movie.

The league has decided it wants no part of him. And on this occasion his victim was a generational man.

“He’s a special kind of player,” Spurs winger Julian Champagnie said. “He just looks around and sees what he can hit. And he gets them.”

While the rest of the NBA plays basketball, Wembanyama dominates whack-a-mole.

He blocks four shots in a game, which leads the league and would be the highest average in a single season since Dikembe Mutombo in 1995-96. Even more common than the blocks are plays like the one on Jokić.

“You feel his presence hovering,” Castle said.

Milwaukee Bucks big man Bobby Portis felt that presence during the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s 121-105 blowout of the Spurs. Portis, who has a soft touch around the basket, received a pass low with Wembanyama in his grill, rushed a floater that hit the front of the rim, grabbed the offensive rebound and then rushed for an off-target layup. This time Wembanyama got the rebound.

Eight-time All-Star Damian Lillard noticed the Wembanyama effect from a distance and chose not to experience it at all.

Look at Lillard creating separation from Castle in this third quarter, only to see Wembanyama lurk and send the ball back out:

“He’s always in range to block a shot, to alter a shot. … It’s more different when he’s on the floor than any other player that I’ve played against,” Lillard told reporters after the game.

This is the new norm, even in defeat Spurs lost control early on.

San Antonio allows 4 percent fewer layups and dunks when Wembanyama is on the court, according to Cleaning the Glass. It gives 3 percent fewer looks from the short midrange. The Spurs defense, meanwhile, is nearly 11 points per game. 100 possessions better with his anchor on the court, the second-biggest difference of any high-minute player in the NBA.

“We don’t work that well—” a hyper-honest Champagnie started before rewording. “Well, we’re not working at all without him out there.”

In Year 2, Wembanyama is improving and so are the Spurs, who sit at 18-19, on pace for their most wins in six seasons. The main reason is in the middle.

The physicality doesn’t deter Wembanyama the way it might during his rookie season, when broad-shouldered big men threw an elbow or four down low in hopes of pushing him out of the paint. Sometimes, as with the untouchable Domantas Sabonis, it worked. But it is not such a successful strategy anymore.

Wembanyama has added strength and skill. He can hit more types of shots than he could last season. On Monday, the Chicago Bulls’ Coby White pushed for a transition basket, only for Wembanyama to catch up to him in the paint. White attempted a reverse layup, but there was a problem: Wembanyama jumped with one hand on the left side of the hoop and the other on the right. White couldn’t use the rim to wall off a shot blocker. Naturally, with nowhere for White to go, Wembanyama batted away the finger roll.

No one else in the league is long enough to make these types of plays. And now the Spurs are getting creative with him. They have certain fundamentals for his teammates and separate ones for Wembanyama.

For example, San Antonio players are supposed to shut out square-shouldered shooters, not force dribblers to the center or baseline — except for Wembanyama, who will rush to them with an open stance, giving his opponent a driving lane.

But that’s just bait.

Watch what happens on this fast break as Wembanyama’s never-ending arm deflects a 3 while his feet convince the bold Trae Young there’s daylight — only for the gap to close in an instant.

“You can get a great move, create a lot of space,” Spurs forward Harrison Barnes said. “And he can come out of nowhere and throw the ball off the glass.”

This is how the Spurs create offense. They don’t force many turnovers, but they will run off Wembanyama blocks. San Antonio scores a dominant 1.37 points per game. possession immediately after Wembanyama bounces that stay in, according to information compiled by NBA Stats and provided to Athletics. For perspective, the Cleveland Cavaliers own the league’s top offense right now at 1.22 points per game. possession.

Spurs’ main form of attack is a Wembanyama block.

But their best defense isn’t always when he gets his hands on the ball. Sometimes it’s a hasty giveaway, like the one from Jokić; or a frantic series of prayers, like those of Portis; or a shot that never occurs, as with Lillard’s reset.

Sometimes the threat of a Wembanyama block is as scary as the block itself.

“It just strikes fear into the hearts of opponents,” Champagnie said. “That’s the best thing about it. It’s like, yeah, he’s tall. He blocks almost every shot that comes his way. So anybody going to the basket, you have that little double to see where he is. “

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(Illustration: Will Tullos / Athletics; photos by Victor Wembanyama: Luke Hales, Melissa Tamez/Getty Images)