Victor Wembanyama, at 20 years old, is already one of the most dominating players in the NBA. He led the league in blocks last season with 3.6 per game, was the runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and is clearly the face of the San Antonio Spurs moving forward.
Pretty much every member of the NBA media agrees that he is a special player, and it’s only a matter of time before he takes over the league. However, one of basketball’s most accomplished players has not been as glowing.
In September, Shaquille O’Neal took to ESPN to say that Wembanyama is not quite yet a dominating player .
“Wemby is a great player,” Shaq explained. “I don’t really think you can be dominant when you shoot jumpers a lot. I think if he was an inside player at 7-5, the answer will be ‘yes’ but when you shoot jumpers, you’re always going to go up and down. But he’s a fine player; I wish him well.”
More recently, O’Neal offered his ranking of the best players in the NBA. Most outlets that conduct those rankings tended to put Wembanyama between 10 and 15th in the NBA, but Shaq took a different approach . According to him, Wembanyama is 31st.