Shaq has French jokes for Victor Wembanyama’s hypothetical matchup
Wednesday night, The San Antonio Spurs have moved to 1-0 in the young 2025-26 season with a dominant road win over division rival Dallas Mavericks. It was one of the best games of Victor Vembanyama’s careeras the former No. 1 overall pick scored 40 points with 15 rebounds and three blocks.
After the game, the Inside the NBA crew, which debuted on the ESPN network, talked about how it will play out hypothetically trying to guard a French phenomenon.
“You can’t guard Wemby out there on the 3-point line,” Charles Barkley said.
“I’m not known for defense, you know what I’m known for? I eat fries and toast,” co-host Shaquille O’Neal said.
O’Neal has never been shy about asserting his superiority over current NBA players, and while the remark was clearly meant as a joke, there’s probably a small part of him that believes it.
Hot start for Spurs
Basically, everything went right for the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, from Vembanyama’s play, to the continued development of last year’s Rookie of the Year winner, Stephon Castle, to the performance of this year’s No. 2 overall pick, Dylan Harper.
The Spurs did not have point guard De’Aaron Fox, whom the team acquired at the preseason trade deadline, on Wednesday. It will be very interesting to see how the coaching staff decides to integrate Fox into the wing when he is healthy, given how good both junior backs looked in the game against Dallas.
However, the star of the night on Wednesday was Wembanyama, whose performance made perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate Anthony Davis look like a villain on that end of the floor. While Vembanjama’s play and facilitation may not yet be at a high enough level to make Spurs legitimate contenders, every other aspect of his game looks almost unstoppable, including in defence, where he made multiple lightbulb blocks.
The Spurs will next take the court on Friday night when they host the New Orleans Pelicans.
2025-10-23 15:49:00
