LeBron James was full of praise for ‘special’ Victor Wembanyama on Friday night after the Spurs rookie became the youngest player ever to post a 5×5 game.
Despite San Antonio’s 123-118 loss to the Lakers, Wembanyama wowed as he posted 27 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, five blocks and five steals.
And James gushed over the French 20-year-old after the game, writing ‘That kid is SPECIAL!!’ on X and claiming ‘he doesn’t have a ceiling’ to reporters.
‘He can do whatever he wants to do in his career,’ James said. ‘It seems like he enjoys the game.
‘It seems like he puts the work in, just from the outside looking in I said a long time ago how special he was, and it’s literally that simple.’
Victor Wembanyama and LeBron James are seen sharing the court on Friday night
James was full of praise for the French rookie after the game, which the Lakers won 123-118
Wembanyama finished the game with 27 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks
James also posted a picture of he and Wembanyama to Instagram, captioning the photo with an alien emoji and crown emoji.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham also complimented the rookie after the game.
‘The thing that impresses me the most about him – he’s uber-talented, multi-faceted, highly skilled, but I think his biggest trait and quality that you can’t teach or coach is his competitive nature,’ Ham said.
‘He’s a competitive kid and he makes winning plays all the time. You see how he plays with his teammates. He’s trying to make the right play whether it’s for himself or for the others that’s out there with him, and defensively, chasing down shots, changing shots, blocking shots, coming up with strong rebounds.’
Despite his strong individual performance, Wembanyama couldn’t help but focus on the fact that his team lost.
‘I wonder if [Jordan] did it in wins, not losses,’ he said after joining Michael Jordan in posting consecutive games of five steals and five blocks.
‘To me, it’s secondary… As of today, I can’t be satisfied with a loss.’
Wembanyama’s 5×5 is just the 15th such game in NBA history.
He is averaging 20.6 points, 10.1 rebounds and a league-leading 3.3 blocks per game this season.
