Victor Wembanyama made a great defensive play on Saturday, but it wasn’t the kind made on the court.
The San Antonio Spurs star faced reporters following his team’s 127-95 thrashing of the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis. Wembanyama, inarguably the game’s most imposing defensive presence, spoke candidly about the notion that defense has been forgotten in today’s high-scoring NBA.
The Frenchman believes that the offensive talent has simply gotten too advanced for defenses to catch up.
“Before I got here, it’s a lot of talk about the NBA that nobody plays defense anymore, or like there’s no defense in the NBA,” Wembanyama said at his postgame press conference.
“I heard that a lot before coming here, but it’s just not true. Players are just that good. I was surprised by the dedication of the whole staff when I got here. … People actually do guard in the NBA and do lots of scouting, defensive scouting reports.”
NBA scoring has skyrocketed over the past decade. The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, considered a pioneer in the pace-and-space revolution, averaged 114.9 points per contest across 82 regular-season games. That figure would put them at 20th in the NBA this season, behind the moribund Memphis Grizzlies.
If anyone has the pedigree to denigrate the NBA’s defenses, it’s Wembanyama, who may be in line to win a half-dozen Defensive Player of the Year Awards in his career — if not more. But the Spurs big man doesn’t see things that way.