Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic is in awe of San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama.
After the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday at home, Luka Doncic was asked to talk about Victor Wembanyama.
Doncic, who is averaging 40.0 points on the season, is in awe of Wembanyama.
“It’s his third year in the NBA — and he’s playing at an MVP level, which is insane,” Doncic said about Wembanyama. "So I have much respect for him, much love and I really enjoy his game. Playing against him, it’s very tough. Guarding him, going against him on offense is very tough.”
Doncic and the Lakers made Wembanyama look human on Wednesday. In 32 minutes against the Lakers, Wembanyama finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block, which are strong numbers, but he shot only 5-of-14 from the field and fouled out.
“Personally, I haven’t seen this kind of defense from teams,” Wembanyama said. “We need to adapt as a collective, and obviously, our (offense) was bad against Phoenix as well. … We got stalled out some times. So we’re learning. We’re going to learn.
“There’s no worry, really. It feels like the game is going fast. As we got better as a team and we got better individually, as well, it’s like the opponents have stepped up in some ways defensively. I feel, in a way, that the game feels fast right now.”
Wembanyama has 28 points on 28 shots in his last two games combined. The Spurs have lost two games in a row after starting the season 5-0.
On the season, Wembanyama is averaging 25.6 points, 12.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 4.1 blocks while shooting 50.8% from the field, 26.1% from 3 and 79.7% from the free-throw line. The 21-year-old is still trying to figure out how to beat double teams.
"Mostly, it was the doubling," Wembanyamae said. "They were ready. They probably walked in shootaround through all our situations because it seemed like they were very ready. It felt like they let me catch the ball, but they were ready to double to rotate after that."
The Spurs face the Houston Rockets next. Let's see how Wembanyama performs after struggling in his last two games against the Phoenix Suns and Lakers.