Does anyone remember when people were talking about Victor Wembanyama having started the season with a few doubts? That was less than three weeks ago. But through a run of sensational displays, the Frenchman has made it feel like a debate from another century.
Because the Wemby who emerged after those two early stumbles against OKC and Houston looks like a different species. Aggressive, powerful, unstoppable. Ambitious, as if he had a constant need to show the world, and himself, what he is capable of. He makes his presence felt on the court on every possession and his numbers grow exponentially with every minute. And so he is capable of putting up statistical monstrosities that are unimaginable for everyone else. As happened in Phoenix in the early hours of this morning.
With the Spurs cruising to a comfortable 122-96 win, you might have imagined that Mitch Johnson would rest his star and that Victor would have no chance to pile up so many stats. The first part came true. With his team dominating a feeble Suns side with ease, the Frenchman played just 25 minutes. The thing is, in those 25 minutes he still had time to finish with 40 points, 11 rebounds and 9 blocks in another absolutely monstrous performance.
WEMBY POSTS 40+ POINTS, 10+ REBOUNDS AND 8+ BLOCKS FOR THE SECOND TIME IN A WEEK 🤯 👽 40 PTS (15-19 FGM) 👽 11 REB 👽 9 BLK He joins Kareem and the Admiral as the only players since 1973-74 with multiple 40/10/8 games… and NO ONE has done so in only 25 minutes. https://t.co/QXQv7488ds
— NBA (@NBA) November 10, 2026
Increasingly effective at making his way to the basket off the ball, Wembanyama does not need many minutes or opportunities to reach big scoring totals. His 15-of-19 from the field, most of those shots from a few inches from the rim, helped him pad both his numbers and the margin on the scoreboard, and his mix of size and effort did the same on the boards and in blocks. And so came that stat line (almost unrepeatable).
No other player had finished a game with 40+ points, 10+ rebounds and 8+ blocks since Dwight Howard in 2009. But for Wemby, this is nothing more than the decaf version of the 55/24/8 he put up five days ago against the Mavericks. With both games, he has become the third player in history to record two nights with those numbers, alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and David Robinson, and given the hellish pace at which he has started the season and the duel with Luka Doncic in the MVP race, who knows what else he has in store from now on.
The Suns surrender
The display was such that even his opponents had to acknowledge Wembanyama’s greatness. Devin Booker said it was “something we’ve never seen before”, while Jordan Ott stressed how mentally tough it is to face him: “He can score from everywhere, but when he gets a mismatch they literally throw the ball up to the top of the backboard and he dunks it. When he gets into that rhythm it’s disheartening. But he does it from any position.”
