PHOENIX — There’s a special feeling when you’re in the building for that, “Holy s—!” moment, that rare, special game in which a young prodigy establishes that he’s ready to take his place as one of the game’s next big stars.
While it didn’t take a rocket scientist, or even a Rocket, to determine that Victor Wembanyama was likely on that trajectory, Thursday was that day for him. His 38-point outburst was the exclamation-point performance, the game that told everyone the league’s Next Big Thing has officially arrived.
If you missed it, the San Antonio Spurs’ 7-foot-4 French phenom took over crunchtime in just his fifth NBA game, scoring 10 points in a pivotal 12-0 run to break open a tied game late in the fourth quarter, as San Antonio swept a two-game series in Phoenix with a 132-121 win over the Suns on Thursday.