In one sense, we're late to the party. Every NBA team with even the slimmest chance of drafting generational prospect Victor Wembanyama has already been imagining what life would be like with the 7'4" Frenchman on the roster.
It's impossible for those franchises to dream too big.
Wembanyama brings a skill package previously unseen in a player his size. Guard-like handles and self-sufficient shot creation beyond the arc don't belong in a player taller than Kristaps Porzingis. Wemby's possession of both put him in the rare position of having no real historical comps, giving whichever franchise is lucky enough to land him the blankest of canvases. The idea of planning around a shooting guard who happens to be able to grab the rim from his tiptoes is almost too much to process.
The certainties are even more tantalizing than the unknowns. Whatever Wembanyama becomes offensively, his length and mobility are all but certain to make him one of the most disruptive defensive forces in the league.
Only one team can win the lottery, but it's absolutely worth wondering what Wembanyama might contribute to all of his possible landing spots.
Detroit Pistons
- Draft Lottery Odds: 14.0 percent chance at No. 1
- Biggest Draft Need: Interior upgrades
Slotting this high in the lottery means the Detroit Pistons have too many needs to number. But with the game slowing down for Jaden Ivey toward the end of his rookie season and Cade Cunningham already showing playmaking potential prior to the injury that cost him most of 2022-23, Wembanyama's biggest impact would be as an interior stabilizer.
His 3.1 blocks per game and preposterous wingspan should make him one of the league's most intimidating interior defenders from the moment he first steps on the floor. That'll be big for the Pistons, who ranked in the bottom 10 in both opponent attempt frequency and accuracy at the rim. They also blocked just 3.8 shots per game, 27th in the league.
Though Detroit is already overstuffed with centers (Jalen Duren, James Wiseman and Isaiah Stewart), all that size failed to deter opposing offenses around the basket. Even worse, the Pistons struggled mightily to finish their own looks at close range.
Wembanyama's quick feet and length should address those shortcomings, with the added potential of his offensive spacing making life easier for the Pistons' up-and-coming guards. If his three-point shooting (30.4 percent for Boulogne-Levallois in France's Pro A league) continues to lag, the Pistons may not get the extra breathing room they want for their offense. But the defensive upgrade will be well worth it while they wait for Wembanyama to develop the other aspects of his game.
Houston Rockets
- Draft Lottery Odds: 14.0 percent chance at No. 1
- Biggest Draft Need: Floor general
In truth, the Houston Rockets' biggest draft need is more abstract than any singular item. They must get someone who arms them with guiding principles, both on and off the court, almost regardless of what archetype they typify.
Victor Wembanyama does that. Whether he can come in and provide immediate structure to an offense largely without one is a different story.
Though he can generate his own shot at every level, he isn't (yet) considered a methodical table-setter for others. In some ways, he may overlap with Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr., as a score-first transcendent with secondary playmaking chops who gets miscast as a primary steward for others.
This is far from a bad thing. The Rockets have oodles of cap space and Alperen Sengün to address their playmaking-hub void. And Wembanyama has the bandwidth to initiate pick-and-rolls as both the ball-handler and screener. That opens up all sorts of tantalizing half-court options.
The long-term defensive fit is even more divine. Wembanyama has the size, length and mobility to guard almost anyone while disrupting life around rim. Houston can run him up front next to Jabari Smith Jr. and indulge ultra-switchability or roll super big with him, Smith and Sengün all at once as part of lineups in which Tari Eason or Green is the smallest player on the court.
San Antonio Spurs
- Draft Lottery Odds: 14.0 percent chance at No. 1
- Biggest Draft Need: An actual cornerstone
The Pistons have Cunningham and Ivey; the Rockets have Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun; the Charlotte Hornets have LaMelo Ball. Even if you're a little iffy on the Rockets' young talent and love Devin Vassell more than most, the San Antonio Spurs are still the rebuilder with the least *potential* superstar talent on hand.
Wembanyama would take care of that, and it'd be hard to come up with a better developmental landing spot than the one that'd put him under the tutelage of Gregg Popovich, who presided over the maturation of Tim Duncan, Wembanyama countryman Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard.
If Zach Collins really is "the guy at the 5" for San Antonio, that'd slot Wembanyama alongside him and Keldon Johnson up front. Vassell would man the 2, and Jeremy Sochan could continue his experimental stint as a de facto point guard (please try this, Pop!) in the unlikely event Tre Jones gets away in restricted free agency. It's far from a given that San Antonio would go full Raptors and ditch positions, so it's more likely Wembanyama will take Collins' spot in the middle and a true point guard will make sure the offense doesn't come all the way unglued.
The Spurs came frighteningly close to Bobcatting (finishing last in both offense and defense) this past season, so whatever contributions Wembanyama makes as a finisher, interior defender and floor-spacer will be valuable by default. But the greatest benefit of his presence in San Antonio will be his status as the kind of unquestioned high-ceiling talent the roster currently lacks.