By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
San Antonio Spurs rookie star Victor Wembanyama addressed the buzz that his teammates hesitate to pass the ball to him. The French big man acknowledged the speculations and said that he’s aware of them but denied that there’s such a thing happening.
Here’s what Wembanyama said, per Josh Paredes:
“Of course I’ve heard it, but it’s never been even close to the reality. I was just on TV and I was told that some of my former coaches said that even on those teams sometimes my teammates had trouble adapting to playing with me or I had trouble with that team playing. It’s nothing to worry about. I’m not a conventional player. I needed time to figure out how I want to play and how I need to play for the Spurs and i guess everyone needed time to figure out also how to play wit me. I’m a new piece on this team. There’s nobody n this team that doesn’t want me to pass the ball and there’s nobody I don’t want t pass the ball to. lately, it’s showed.”
There have been cases in which Wembanyama has seemed to be ignored by his teammates even in cases when he appears to be an obvious option on offense.
An example of what Wembanyama admitted that he “heard” about was a game between the Spurs and the Bulls in late December. The Bulls‘ commentators were wondering out loud how the Spurs players “miss a 7’ 4″” guy and asked if they indeed seem reluctant to pass the ball to Wembanyama.
This discussion probably wouldn’t even exist if the Spurs weren’t struggling with 7 – 20, the second-worst record in the NBA after the Detroit Pistons‘ 3-36. San Antonio does have two wins in a row at this moment with Wemby registering his first triple-double (16 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) in a victor over the Pistons.