All eyes were on Victor Wembanyama this morning. The young French player played his first game in the NBA today with the Spurs against Luka Doncic's Dallas Mavericks. The Slovenian has led his team to victory (119-126) with a triple-double (33 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists) and has eclipsed the debut of the 19-year-old prodigy who has added 15 points and five rebounds in a regular debut.
'Wemby' began its history in the North American league with a triple and little by little it became loose until it shined in the last quarter, a period in which it added nine points to its total. The French player became the third rookie with the most points scored in the last 25 years, thanks to his success in the final round. However, in the fourth quarter problems also came for the Spurs power forward.
The performance of the 2.24 meter basketball player has been conditioned by his personal foul problems. Precisely, 30 seconds into the last 12 minutes of the game, he committed his fifth personal foul. He had to go to the bench. Although it was not the French player's dream debut, he contributed important points for Gregg Popovich's team, who a few days ago praised Wembanyama for his preseason performance.
The start of the NBA season is leaving relevant performances by several names in the competition. This is the case of Porzingis who scored 30 points (five triples) and had 8 rebounds and 4 blocks, in his first appearance with the Boston Celtics. The Latvian was a key player in beating the New York Knicks (104-108), as well as Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, who gave 34 points and 11 rebounds on the Madison Square Garden court.
A triple by Donovan Mitchell with only 12 seconds left to give the Cleveland Cavaliers the victory against the Nets (113-114) or the performances of Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, being the Miami Heat's top scorers, have also been highlight of the first day of the North American league.
Likewise, the performance of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31 points and 10 assists), who was a steamroller for the Chicago Bulls (104-124), or that of the Los Angeles Clippers trident, Paul George, Ivica Zubac and Kawhi Leonard in his debut against the Portland Trail Blazers, has been one of the most talked about of the first NBA 2023-24 agenda.
