San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama is scaling the mountain of basketball greatness at a staggering pace, bringing both incredible excitement and intense scrutiny along for the ride. When Hoops Tonight host Jason Timpf recently ranked Wembanyama tied as the best player in the NBA alongside elite talents like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, it marked monumental recognition. Yet, the criticisms used by analysts to disqualify the young Frenchman from solely holding the crown often completely ignore the most astonishing factor of all: he is only 22 years old.
As Timpf noted during his breakdown, every top-tier star has flaws: Jokic has faced early exits, SGA saw his efficiency dip while getting outplayed by Wembanyama in the Western Conference Finals, and Vic struggled to consistently take control of games offensively during the NBA Finals against New York. While those critiques hold merit, they miss the overarching context of where Wembanyama is in his career trajectory.
The Advantage Wembanyama Holds Over SGA and Jokic
Nobody is arguing that Wembanyama should definitively be crowned the undisputed best player on the planet right this second. However, when evaluating his shortcomings on the game’s biggest stages, critics must factor in that the 7’4″ unicorn is merely three seasons into his NBA career and reached the Finals faster than his peers. By comparison, SGA didn’t reach the championship round until year seven, and Jokic reached it in year five.
Furthermore, Wembanyama’s greatest long-term advantage is something neither Jokic nor Gilgeous-Alexander can replicate: sheer runway for growth.
SGA recently wrapped up his age-27 peak season following a second consecutive MVP campaign, leading Oklahoma City to 64 wins before running into a young, surging Spurs core experiencing deep playoff pressure for the first time in over a decade. Meanwhile, Jokic, at 31 years old, continues to put up historically absurd statistical numbers, yet struggles to push his Denver squad past the second round. Both players are essentially operating at the absolute zenith of who they are going to be.
A Warning Shot to the Rest of the NBA
Wembanyama’s occasional offensive struggles in the postseason are the natural growing pains of a 22-year-old figuring out how to lead a Finals-caliber team on the fly. Those hurdles are developmental bumps that will inevitably resolve themselves with added reps and experience.
No disrespect is owed to Shai or Nikola, both of whom thoroughly deserve to be in the discussion for the number one spot. But sharing that tier with a 22-year-old Wembanyama—warts and all—isn’t necessarily a glowing endorsement of where those veterans are peaking; rather, it serves as a massive warning shot to the rest of the league. Give Wembanyama another couple of years to refine his craft, and this current tie at the top will be a distant memory.
