Victor Wembanyama is nicknamed “The Alien,” which is sort of ironic when considering the amount of gravity he commands.
Everything the San Antonio Spurs’ 7-4 superstar center does — on both ends of the court — requires painstaking attention.
And as if his out-of-this-world skill set wasn’t enough of a separator, Wembanyama trained with monks at the Shaolin Temple in China last offseason to further enhance his body and mind.
“You just hope [with] a guy like that, you can find ways to make him work,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said. “You pray. I had some buddies that are monks — I can’t go to them because he’s got that part of the religion all wrapped up.”
The Knicks know they can’t expect to outright stop Wembanyama, the unanimous NBA Defensive Player of the Year and the league’s third-place finisher for MVP.
But how much the Knicks are able to limit Wembanyama’s impact will likely determine which team wins the NBA Finals, beginning on Wednesday night with Game 1 in San Antonio.
The sharp-shooting, shot-blocking Wembanyama, 22, can do a little bit of everything, but he’s at his best when he’s in the paint. That’s the case on defense, where Wembanyama is the NBA’s top rim-protector, and on offense, where he’s a ferocious finisher on the receiving end of lobs.
The mission for the Knicks’ surging offense will be to get Wembanyama away from the basket as much as possible.
Wembanyama thrives on defense when he can roam the baseline and protect the restricted area, where his 8-foot wingspan makes it incredibly difficult for opponents to get shots off anywhere near the basket.
There’s a strong possibility Wembanyama will match up with Knicks guard Josh Hart, whom he can leave open on the perimeter and dare to shoot. That’s a calculated risk that would allow Wembanyama to stay near the basket.
On one hand, Hart is shooting just 30.3% on 3-pointers this postseason.
On the other, Hart has managed to thwart that strategy multiple times in these playoffs, including by shooting 5-of-11 on 3-pointers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
If Hart can do that again, the Spurs will have to adjust.
Keeping Wembanyama in the rover role would also require the Spurs to use a smaller defender — such as 6-7 Julian Champagnie or 6-5 Devin Vassell — on 7-foot Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns has taken advantage of smaller defenders throughout these playoffs, particularly as a passer — an adjustment the Knicks unlocked against the Atlanta Hawks’ undersized frontcourt.
If Towns is able to do so again, that could force the Spurs to shift Wembanyama onto Towns more often. And Towns’ shooting — he’s made 48.9% of his 3-pointers in the playoffs — could pull Wembanyama out of the paint.
“Every team is going to play the game, mess with matchups and whatnot. Obviously, Karl’s shooting is something that anybody has to honor, and that changes the game plan entirely,” Knicks guard Landry Shamet said.
“You have to prepare for that, [as well] the pick-and-roll with Jalen [Brunson] and KAT.”
The Brunson-Towns pick-and-roll can also get Wembanyama out of the paint when he’s defending Towns, but the downside is that it puts the lanky Wembanyama on the ball.
Regardless of how they do it, moving Wembanyama around will be key for the Knicks.
“I don’t know if you can really prepare for [everything Wembanyama does], because there’s not a situation that’s similar,” Hart said.
“For us, I think if we focus on ourselves and focus on the habits that we’re building, we’ll put ourselves in good situations to be successful.”
The Knicks also face the challenge of defending Wembanyama, who averaged 25.0 points per game in the regular season and was even better (27.3) in the Western Conference Finals.
During the season, including the NBA Cup finals, the 6-7, 240-pound OG Anunoby spent considerable time defending Wembanyama.
Anunoby, a second-team All-Defensive selection, boasts the physicality to disrupt Wembanyama on his way to the paint.
Wembanyama is shooting 37.0% on 3-pointers in the playoffs, but the Knicks would surely prefer he spend as much time on the perimeter as possible.
In the playoffs, the high-flying Wembanyama has converted on 25-of-32 (78.1%) alley-oop attempts — a rate of 1.5 makes per game.
In the regular season, Wembanyama finished 96-of-111 (86.5%) of alley-oops and, again, made 1.5 per game.
That’s a high-percentage weapon the Knicks will need to prevent.
Towns and fellow 7-foot center Mitchell Robinson are also expected to be part of the defensive game plan against Wembanyama and can use their physicality to tire him out.
“He’s pretty unique,” Anunoby said. “I mean, there’s little things, like maybe guarding [Nikola] Jokic or [Kristaps] Porzingis or Joel [Embiid]. He’s different. … He’s taller. Just being aware of where he’s at all over the floor. He can do everything. Super talented. Just being aware of him at all times, trying to make it as difficult as possible.”
