Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shared his uplifting words of advice and encouragement to Victor Wembanyama as this year’s top overall pick graced the hardwood of Las Vegas to headline the San Antonio Spurs Summer League outing.
“Just be patient. Pick up what he can pick up as he goes along,” was his advice to Wembanyama as he spoke to ESPN’s Cassidy Hubbarth during halftime of the Spurs’ matchup against the Charlotte Hornets.
“He’s not gonna get all at once, but he’s got a lot of potential. We’ll see what happens.”
The all-time great center was just one of the 17,500 capacity crowd within the jam-packed Thomas & Mack Center as he occupied a front-row seat to view the highly anticipated Summer League debut of the French wunderkind.
The legendary center also believes that Wembanyama has to familiarize himself now with the level of play in the NBA as it is entirely different from what he seized in Europe.
Friday night marks the first time that Wembanyama has fully experienced the intense NBA atmosphere. It is also his first competitive game since capping off his tenure with the Metropolitans 92 in the Finals stage of the French League back in June.
“I think he’s gonna have to learn our style of play. He played multiple times of the game over in Europe,” Abdul-Jabbar also said about Wembanyama.
“They don’t play the game exactly like we do.”
Though he had an underwhelming offensive night highlighted by his lowly nine points in 2-of-13 shooting across 27 minutes of play, Wembanyama still utilized his 7-foot-5 towering presence to at least have a defensive significance in the Spurs’ 76-68 triumph over No. 2 pick Brandon Miller and the Hornets by registering five major blocks.
