The San Antonio Spurs struck gold when they landed the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, making way for them to select arguably the best prospect since LeBron James when they took Victor Wembanyama out of France. While he battled a blood clot in his second season, he's been taking over games since he entered the NBA.

On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers played host to Wembanyama and the Spurs, entering the contest at a significant disadvantage without their three best players. The Spurs already had the upper hand with their talent, and the contest played out just the way many expected, given the talent discrepancy on Tuesday night.

The Spurs took a 17-point lead after the first quarter and continued growing on it, defeating the Lakers 136-108 in blowout fashion. It was a monster game from Wembanyama, finishing with 40 points and 12 rebounds in only 26 minutes of action. He had 37 of his 40 points in just the first half.

San Antonio only had two other players finish in double figures, but nothing mattered much at all with Wembanyama playing the way he did.

After the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick was asked about the challenge of dealing with Wembanyama, being honest about what transpired.

“Yeah, I mean we've done a good job historically. He's had good games. Again, I'm not saying like we've shut him down, but we've limited him with our coverages against him. We just didn't execute those," Redick said.

While some may look past what Redick said about slowing Wembanyama down, this recent performance was actually the best he's had against LA by a long shot. In the previous two contests, the Lakers held him to 16 and 19 points, but having Deandre Ayton sidelined on Tuesday didn't help their chances of replicating that.

"And he was very aggressive, as aggressive to start a game as I've seen him both in attacking the basket and in shooting without hesitation from three. [He] just really put his imprint on the game in that first half. And with the guys we had out there, it was hard to create shots at the rim," he added.

Wembanyama's previous career-high against the Lakers was 30, which he had in his first matchup against them on December 13th, 2023. With the Lakers already weak at the center position, the odds weren't in their favor regardless of who was out there.

Tuesday concludes the season series between the Lakers and Spurs, with San Antonio sweeping the last three to win it 3-1. It's possible these two teams see each other in the postseason, but the Lakers only stand a chance if their top three players are healthy and they can actually limit Wembanyama.

The Lakers conclude their pre-All-Star schedule with the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, with tip-off set for 10:00 p.m. EST.