If Aday Mara dreamed of a poster in his rookie NBA season, he already has one. The young Spanish player opened his career in the world’s best basketball league by visiting the San Antonio Spurs and, inevitably, coming up against Victor Wembanyama. Fear? None at all.
Well aware of his physical gifts, the Zaragoza-born player went all out on every play during the 12 minutes he spent on court, finishing with 7 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block. And what a block!
Midway through the third quarter the Spurs were setting up a play designed for ‘Wemby’ to finish above the rim. He was already looking forward to it, but suddenly Mara appeared, not only denying him the basket but sending him crashing to the floor with a ‘poster’ that has gone around the world. Here is the iconic moment.
As if the ‘hake pincho’ move – in the style of Andrés Montes – wasn’t enough, the 21-year-old Spaniard ran the floor to finish the play with a two-handed alley-oop that made it clear that if the Frenchman is an alien, Mara is not far behind physically.
(Photo by IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)