Spurs rookie star Victor Wembanyama erupts for rare 10-block triple-double
Victor Wembanyama has his second triple-double – and his first with blocks.
The San Antonio rookie blocked a shot by Toronto’s Gradey Dick with 6:32 left in the fourth quarter on Monday night, giving him the NBA’s first tripledouble with blocked shots as one of the categories in more than three years.
Wembanyama had 27 points, 14 rebounds and five assists as well – all in just 29 minutes, as the Spurs beat the Raptors 122-99. Wembanyama entered Monday as the NBA’s leader in blocked shots this season.
“He did a little bit of everything, obviously,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
It was the first triple-double with blocks since Clint Capela had 13 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks for Atlanta against Minnesota on 22 January 2021. That had also been the last time anyone in the NBA blocked 10 shots in a game.
Hakeem Olajuwon has the most triple-doubles with blocks since the stat started being officially recorded in the NBA. He did it 11 times, one more than
Dikembe Mutombo and two more than Spurs Hall of Famer David Robinson.
Robinson had nine such tripledoubles – one of them being a quadruple-double. The only other Spurs player to have a triple-double with blocks was Artis Gilmore, his lone one coming in the 1984-85 season.
“Wembanyama is the player who’s going to play in this league for the next 15 years. We need to figure out how to attack and how to play against him,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “Definitely a player who’s unique with his size and shot-blocking ability. We’ve got to do a much better job of figuring out how to play against that.”
Wembanyama was the No 1 pick in last year’s NBA draft. He will go to his first All-Star weekend later this week in Indianapolis, set to participate in the Rising Stars game on Friday night and the Skills Competition on Saturday night.
The other triple-double for Wembanyama this season was on 10 January against Detroit. He had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists — but no blocks that night.