PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 3: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs handles the ball during the game against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 3, 2026 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or us ing this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images The Spurs are back to their winning ways after a stumble in New York. They demolished the shorthanded 76ers in a 40-point blowout that saw eight players finish with 10 points or more. Among those 8 players, Victor Wembanyama was the closest to not reaching double digits. The big man only took five shots in 25 minutes, yet the Spurs outscored Philadelphia by 41 points with him on the floor, the highest numbers on the team. As J.R. Wilco and I previously discussed, Wemby is dominating games without having to score, which is a fantastic development. A blowout win is not the best data point, but the win against the Pistons also showed this dynamic. Wembanyama had five points in six shots in the first quarter. He took 10 shots the rest of the way and racked up his points from the free throw line and by scoring late against a scrambling Detroit defense. Wembanyama was a monster on the boards, finishing with 17. He blocked six shots and walled off the paint, and he dished out four assists. He had a usage in the mid-20s, and he passed the ball on a two thirds of his total touches. He didn’t force things or hold on to the ball. Let’s compare it with the loss to the Knicks. Wembanyama led the team in scoring and field goal attempts and had seven turnovers. He took seven three-pointers and made just one. His usage was in the low 30s while no one else got more than the very low 20s, and he passed the ball in about half of his touches. The final stat line is not that dissimilar. Against Detroit, Wemby finished with 21 points on 16 shots and four assists to three turnovers. Against New York, he finished with 25 points on 17 shots and four assists to seven turnovers. The main difference is how much more in the flow of the offense he played in the Pistons game and some recent others. Now, Wembanyama being the clear first option on offense is not a bad thing in itself. There are also different ways he’s guarded, some of which only work if he’s passive. By no means is the suggestion here that The Alien needs to be a defense-only role player instead of using his impressive offensive tools. The main point is that Wemby, despite occasionally falling into old habits, seems to be doing a better job of reading what the defense is giving him and recognizing when others might have a better matchup. He only took five shots against the 76ers because he only had to take five shots for the team to win in a blowout. You can see the new approach in action when you watch him. The Spurs don’t have the most sophisticated offensive playbook, so they stick to a few plays to get Wemby a good look, usually involving an off-ball screen or having him as a screener. When those plays are executed well and the defender doesn’t stick closely to Victor, he can act as a finisher. Then you have the isolations at the mid-post or the elbow, and the inverted pick-and-rolls that turn him into a shot creator. Finally, there are the threes that Wemby has the green light to attempt whenever he wants. There are games when he simply doesn’t get good looks off those plays, mostly because the defense sells out to stop him, but he tries to make something happen anyway, to normally bad results. The drives that end in turnovers, the fadeaway twos out of balance, the rushed threes, the pleas for a call as he falls won’t ever be fully eliminated from his game, because he’ll never be perfect. But they can be limited. When Wemby has a center sticking on him, he can simply screen or space the floor and let the guards drive into an open paint. When he has a big wing on him to match his agility or is single-covered, he can hunt switches that will lead to doubles or rotations and just move the ball. The offense can and should revolve around him most of the time he’s on the court, but he doesn’t have to make tough buckets and get crazy assists to be useful on that end. We’ve seen it, and he’s realizing it. What makes Wembanyama special is that he can be Rudy Gobert 2.0 on defense but also bring the scoring, spacing, and connective passing of offensively gifted bigs. He can drop 40 if the defense doesn’t have the personnel to stop him or when his shot is going in. But some days, he can just dominate so thoroughly defensively that playing a less central role on offense is the best way for him to contribute to winning. It may seem counterintuitive, but playing the decoy to give an opportunity to the rest of the Spurs’ offensive weapons, might just be what’s necessary to open things up for him to score more. The fully realized version of Wemby will likely be unstoppable on offense, but for now, he can be an elite finisher and an opportunistic creator who picks his spots. It’s what he’s done in some of the recent wins, and it bodes well for the upcoming playoff run and the near future, when San Antonio’s already impressive guards progress to the point of needing more touches, just like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili did back in the day. ...read more read less