San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama didn’t finish the 2024-25 NBA season after he was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis. Wemby was ruled out for the rest of the campaign to recover and only appeared in 46 games. Before the Frenchman was shut down, he was the favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. Unfortunately for the big man, he didn’t play enough games to stay in the race.
Wemby used the early offseason to recover from the health scare. He also maximized the entire summer working out, enhancing his talents and skills with former NBA stars Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Garnett. Before the start of the Spurs’ preseason games, the star center showed off the development he’s had through the offseason.
Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins recognized that French star has missed playing basketball, after the health scare he had last season. Perkins commented on the young star’s renewed joy in the court on Tuesday’s episode of “NBA Today.”
“When you’re on the sideline, you miss the game of basketball, and you appreciate it more, that’s what we’re seeing right now, the joy out of Wemby. Along with his work ethic and his desire to want to be better and be great,” Perkins said.
"When you're on the sideline, you miss the game of basketball, and you appreciate it more, that's what we're seeing right now, the joy out of Wemby." @KendrickPerkins on seeing Wemby's first game back after being sidelined with health issues last season 👏 pic.twitter.com/lhn6MTMA3y
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 7, 2025
“On top of that, I want Wemby to be a big man that has guard skills, playing inside-out. and he’s showing that right now.”
Perkins has started to notice that Wembanyama has started to showcase his all-around game at the start of the Spurs’ preseason games. Fans are excited to see how the 7-foot-4 center will perform in his third NBA season.
Brian Windhorst compares Victor Wembanyama to Draymond Green
The Spurs had their first preseason game on Monday against the Guangzhou Loong-Lions and had a 119-88 win. San Antonio was without their best three guards, De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. This led them to surround Victor Wembanyama with four wing players in the starting lineup and utilize him as a point-center.
In the game, he was everywhere and had nine points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks. After the game, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst compared him to Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green for his all-around performance.
“As a result, he essentially played point center. You saw some of those highlights. He looked kind of like Draymond Green getting the ball at the center of the court, distributing it,” Windhorst said. He can do a lot of different things, but create with the ball far from the hoop, is something that is on the list.”
Wemby could display na different brand of basketball for the Spurs this season.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
