LOS ANGELES — Not long before the Los Angeles Lakers and their new majority owner Mark Walter celebrated the Dodgers’ World Series championship at center court, Victor Wembanyama stood in the corner across from the San Antonio Spurs bench, the team’s championship banners and retired numbers in the rafters above.
On the baseline opposite, you wouldn’t need to strain to imagine Walter dreaming big — those banners, technically speaking, were closer to the 7-foot-4 phenom than anyone else on the floor.
And if that view wasn’t good enough, the one in the third quarter where Wembanyama’s head was a foot above the rim as he easily dunked the ball even as his momentum carried him away from the basket definitely was.
The Lakers chasing greatness and the players who can provide it is nothing new. Three of the Hall of Fame bigs with retired numbers began their career somewhere else. Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal were all someone else’s before they shone in L.A.
While their fans probably have their Photoshops ready (and of course, there was a photo of Magic Johnson and Wembanyama’s father, Felix, on the internet this offseason), none of this is based in any reality.
The truth is much scarier.
Walter can dream about a future with Wembanyama. But first, he and his new team are going to have to deal with what’s rapidly becoming a running, jumping, shooting, stealing and blocking nightmare.
Because for everything Wembanyama could mean to a team’s future, he’s capable of ruining an opponent’s present.
After the Lakers beat Wembanyama and the Spurs 118-116 Wednesday night, it didn’t matter that they’d made him look uncomfortable by trying to push him off of his preferred spots. It didn’t matter that they’d forced him into five turnovers and six fouls and held him to just 19 points.
No, inside the locker room, Lakers players knew that the guy they’d just competed against would only get better and soon might be unstoppable.
“It’s his third year in the NBA — and he’s playing at an MVP level, which is insane,” Lakers star Luka Dončić said after the win. “So I have much respect for him, much love and I really enjoy his game. Playing against him, it’s very tough. Guarding him, going against him on offense is very tough.”
Dončić is the biggest reason why Walter doesn’t have to wait for the Lakers to take a crack at winning. Through nine games, Dončić has been the best version of himself. It’d be easy to argue no one has been better and that he’s the early favorite for his first MVP award.
Dončić, who turns 27 in February, was gifted to the Lakers last season and gave the franchise a more viable post-LeBron James plan than they could’ve ever imagined. In a single transaction, the team went from trying to figure out if/when/how to build around a player in his 40s to forming the right team around someone 14 years younger.
It gave them time.
Luka Dončić changes the Lakers’ championship timeline. But so does Victory Wembanyama. (Harry How / Getty Images)
But inside the Lakers’ locker room, multiple players made it sound like it was merely a matter of when, and not if, Wembanyama gets to be too good for anyone to have a real chance at stopping him.
”He has some God-given abilities and talent that put him in a pretty unique space,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said pregame. “And if he continues to hone those and nurture those and develop those, you know, I don’t think anybody feels comfortable putting a ceiling on him.”
It’s why teams in the Western Conference can’t think too big-picture. They’ve got a head start, but people seem to know Wembanyama and those long strides will eventually chase them down. No one, save for the Oklahoma City Thunder, can feel like they’re in a steady climb to contention.
Everyone else is in a sprint.
Seven-footer Jaxson Hayes said Wembanyama is stronger and smarter now than he’s ever been before in the league. And with the Spurs star still somehow growing, Hayes stood next to Wembanyama on Wednesday and felt something he hadn’t felt since he was a scrawny high school guard.
He felt short.
“Crazy,” he said with a laugh.
Lakers coaches and players said that Wembanyama still needs to grow as a playmaker and that he’s still in the process of harnessing his immense physical advantages. But they also said he’s already a one-of-one problem.
“The top of this game plan is Wemby awareness on both sides of the floor,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the game. “ And defensively, we showed the team a couple clips, when you touch the paint, you may think you have a layup, but he’s gonna just appear magically out of nowhere and block your shot. The space that he’s able to cover, it’s almost like he can be in two places at once.”
There are a couple of places where Wembanyama notably isn’t at the moment. One, the Spurs, despite their hot start, need to be healthier, deeper and more experienced to push to the top levels of the West. And two, Wembanyama can’t really be a part of anyone’s plans outside of San Antonio because he’s chasing a type of greatness that transcends locale. For him, it sure seems like it’s not about being in a big market or small market — it’s about being the absolute best basketball player he can be. And with their young talent, their clean books and a healthy stock of picks to use in trades, the Spurs are in a terrific position to put everything he’ll need around him.
It’s why on a night when the Lakers won, it was still a little scary, getting another look at an ever-evolving threat that has no real limits. Win five MVPs? Sure. Shoot 80 percent from the field? Why not? Hoist his own set of banners in San Antonio? Seems like it’ll eventually happen.
That’s the thing about greatness — it’s possibility. Walter has it with the Dodgers; he has it with this version of Dončić, too. It’s increasingly looking like this version of the Lakers will have a chance.
But as Walter sat there and saw the NBA’s biggest threat, literally and figuratively, he had to wonder how long that could possibly be true.
Because anyone who is trying to win right now should know that there’s no point chasing Wembanyama, because Wembanyama is already chasing you.