"Thoroughly impressed": Paul Pierce joins Skip Bayless to laud Victor Wembanyama's debut citing ROTY and DPOY potential

Many were mostly critical of Victor Wembanyama’s NBA debut for the San Antonio Spurs against the Dallas Mavericks. After an impressive preseason, he had an underwhelming performance versus the Luka Doncic-led team. “Wemby” spent most of his first game sitting on the bench due to foul trouble instead of leading the Spurs. The rookie was ripped on social media for seemingly failing to meet expectations.

Paul Pierce, on “The Undisputed,” has a different take, though. The Boston Celtics legend had the following to say about Wembanyama’s first NBA regular season game:

“First of all, everybody knows there is a difference from preseason to regular season. Minutes for the starters go up and you match up with the guys who are stars for 30+ minutes. I was thoroughly impressed by the minutes that he gave me.

“At the beginning, ‘Oh, he’s going through some growing pains, foul trouble. He has to get used to the NBA refereeing [and] the physicality. But then, he had a Zion-like [Williamson] debut in the fourth quarter!”

Victor Wembanyama had a solid first quarter, he had six points, two rebounds and several plays that had the San Antonio crowd gasping in delight. Foul trouble, however, forced Gregg Popovich to sideline him. The rookie hardly played in the next two quarters.

When Wembanyama started the fourth quarter, he committed his fifth foul roughly 30 seconds into the final contest. Some Twitter/X fans were already calling him a bust in the same mold as Sam Bowie and Greg Oden.

Popovich kept his faith in his rookie, though, and decided to let Wembanyama nurse his foul trouble. The French phenom showed why he’s considered a generational talent like LeBron James. “Wemby” scored nine points in the last seven minutes to nearly rally the San Antonio Spurs to the win.

After the game, Victor Wembanyama was even-keeled about his performance:

“As I said before, we’re learning. It’s only our first regular season game together. We’re going to watch film and maybe this happened, but if we notice it on the film, the coaches and ourselves, the players will make whatever it takes to get better.”

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Paul Pierce sees Victor Wembanyama potentially winning two major NBA awards by season’s end

Paul Pierce didn’t stop in his appreciation of Victor Wembanyama’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. “The Truth” had already seen enough to say this:

“On the defensive side of the ball, that's where I was thoroughly impressed. He blocks Kyrie’s [Irving] shot from the wing [and] he makes threes effortlessly. This guy, in my opinion, can be the Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year all in the same year. He has that type of potential.”

The San Antonio Spurs vowed before the season that they would let Victor Wembanyama develop naturally. That might mean a few ups and downs. Gregg Popovich and Spurs fans are confident the Frenchman will figure it out sooner rather than later.