Following the historic rookie season that Victor Wembanyama had, every fan would regard the San Antonio Spurs big man as one of the best young players in the league. However, Charles Barkley fails to agree. Shedding light on the poor win record of Gregg Popovich’s side, Barkley omitted Wembanyama from a list of young NBA stars.
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With neither of the three faces of the league – LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant – in the playoffs anymore, the Inside the NBA panel was lauding the next generation of players for taking over. While doing so, Charles Barkley named the top young stars present in the NBA. As expected, the likes of Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, and Luka Doncic received Sir Charles’ nod. But, when Kenny Smith reminded him of Victor Wembanyama, Barkley refused to add the French phenom to the list.
“Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic… Well, he (Victor Wembanyama) not in that conversation yet. He won 12 games,” Barkley said.
The San Antonio Spurs did have the second-worst record in the league, winning merely 22 games this regular season. But, one cannot dismiss the performance that Wemby had in the 71 games that he suited up for.
Being merely the 4th rookie in NBA history to average 20+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 3+ blocks per game, the 7ft 4” star will certainly lift the Rookie of the Year award and also be named to the All-Defensive Team. He is also a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
The European sensation was not an All-Star and might not even receive an All-NBA selection like the other four players mentioned by Barkley. But, Wemby’s two-way capabilities make him one of the best players, not just youngsters, in the league.
With that being said, Wembanyama will continue to be criticized despite putting up terrific numbers if the Spurs aren’t winning. While the rookie is expected to improve drastically in his second season, winning games will help the 2024 Block Champion in silencing the naysayers.
Shaquille O’Neal has also criticized Victor Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyama has left the whole basketball community in awe of his game. However, he’s not managed to impress Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal just yet. While the Chuckster denied Wembanyama’s addition to the young stars list, Shaq criticized the 20-year-old all season long.
During the 2023-2024 campaign, the Big Aristotle had trolled Wemby for his physical stature. Additionally, O’Neal came off as a detractor by comparing Wembanyama to Bol Bol… in more than one instance.
“You guys are acting like Wemby is the first 7-foot-5 player that dribble coast to coast, put it between his legs and shot a three [pointer],” O’Neal said, per Sports Illustrated. “[Wembanyama] is not. Bol Bol is the first. I never compared the two. I just said you guys act like you’ve never seen it before, but you have. You’ve seen Bol Bol do it.”
Finally, the Los Angeles Lakers legend also seemed jealous when discrediting the youngster’s defensive performance. Claiming that the center didn’t do anything exceptional by swatting away 3.6 blocks per game, Shaq also made a DPOY case against Victor Wembanyama.
Shaq said, “I’m not discrediting, the dude Is 7’5”, he’s supposed to be blocking shots. As a single individual, him playing defense, Defensive Player of the Year, yes… His team does not have a winning record, so does that disqualify him as being the Defensive Player of the Year… if his team is not winning?”
With fans often claiming that Wembanyama recorded a better rookie season than Shaq, it seems pretty straightforward why the latter is not being appreciative. The fact that Wembanyama has displayed the potential of going down as one of the greatest centers of all time can also be the reason why the Hall-Of-Famer is threatened and can’t stand the youngster’s success.
