Victor Wembanyama finally came alive in the fourth quarter, but his debut largely fell short of the massive hype it had coming in — and he arguably got outplayed by another rookie.
Limited to just 23 minutes due to foul trouble, the No. 1 2023 NBA Draft pick finished his Spurs debut with 15 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in San Antonio’s 126-119 loss to the Mavericks on Tuesday night.
Wembanyama nearly fouled out, picking up five fouls before sitting on the bench for a large chunk of the second half.
But after coming back into the game with 7:12 left in the fourth quarter, Wembanyama seemed to put things into another gear, scoring nine points in a span of just over three minutes that included finishing an alley-oop while also throwing down a two-handed jam that briefly gave the Spurs the lead late in the final quarter of play.
The French big man finished the game on 6-of-9 shooting, including going 3-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc, where he made his first shot with 8:24 left in the first quarter.
On the other side of the court, Dereck Lively shined with 16 points and 10 rebounds over 31 minutes in his NBA debut for the Mavericks.
The Duke product was even lauded by Dallas star Luka Doncic, who had 33 points, in a postgame interview with ESPN after the game.
Warning, explicit language
“He didn’t seem like he was nervous,” Doncic said of Lively. “So he played f–king amazing.”
Wembanyama and the Spurs next host the Rockets on Friday night.