TORONTO — Victor Wembanyama has his second triple-double — and his first with blocks.
The San Antonio Spurs rookie blocked a shot by the Toronto Raptors‘ Gradey Dick with 6:32 left in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s 122-99 win, giving him the NBA’s first triple-double with blocked shots as one of the categories in more than three years.
Wembanyama had 27 points, 14 rebounds 10 blocks and 5 assists — all in just 29 minutes. He is the first player with 10 blocks and 5 assists in under 30 minutes played, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“I felt great today,” Wembanyama said. “Great rhythm, started the game strong. I guess it’s just the NBA, you know. We’ve got ups and downs in terms of shape, and today was an up day.”
Wembanyama leads the league in blocked shots and after Monday’s game was the first rookie with 150 blocks, 150 assists and 50 steals in a season since Tim Duncan in 1997-98. There are 28 games left in the Spurs’ season.
“He did a little bit of everything,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his star rookie’s performance. “Obviously he’s an all-around, talented player. He’s got a great feel for the game and it shows in a variety of ways, whether it’s passing or making decisions, blocking shots.”
It was the first triple-double with blocks since Clint Capela had 13 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks for the Atlanta Hawks against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Jan. 22, 2021. That also had been the last time anyone in the NBA blocked 10 shots in a game.
Hakeem Olajuwon has the most such triple-doubles — with blocks — since the stat started being officially recorded in the NBA. He did it 11 times, one more than Dikembe Mutombo and two more than Spurs Hall of Famer David Robinson.
Robinson had nine such triple-doubles — one of them being a quadruple-double. The only other Spurs player to have a triple-double with blocks was Artis Gilmore, his lone one coming in the 1984-85 season.
“Wembanyama is the player who’s going to play in this league for the next 15 years. We need to figure out how to attack and how to play against him,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “Definitely a player who’s unique with his size and shot-blocking ability. We’ve got to do a much better job of figuring out how to play against that.”
Wembanyama was the No. 1 pick in last year’s NBA draft. He will go to his first All-Star Weekend later this week in Indianapolis, set to participate in the Rising Stars game on Friday night and the skills challenge on Saturday night.
Wembanyama registered his other triple-double against the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 10, when he had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists — but no blocks.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Source: www.espn.com