In case you've been living under a rock as an NBA fan, I'm here to let you know that San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has recently risen to the status of the best basketball player in the world. At the very least, Wemby has an argument for that title. His Spurs just knocked the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder off of the NBA throne and are four wins away from a championship.
Wemby's sheer size has changed the entire geometry of the NBA -- not dissimilarly (in concept, at least) to how Stephen Curry's 3-point shooting changed the geometry of the league a decade or so ago. With Wembanyama only 22 years old, every NBA team not named the Spurs is terrified that we might be entering a prolonged period in which there's really nothing anyone can do about Wemby if he's healthy. There are Bill Russell/1950's Celtics-type narratives out there suggesting that we're about to see an unstoppable, decade-long Spurs dynasty spearheaded by Wembanyama.
As such, every team is on the lookout for "Wemby stoppers" (which don't exist), or rather, anyone who can at least make Wemby look human for a possession here and there. It takes both size and agility to do so, and it'll be interesting to see how New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson fares against Wemby in the NBA Finals.
Cavaliers are built better than anyone else to deal with Victor Wembanyama
If you were to look around the league and pick one team that is best "prepared" to defend Wemby (if that's even a thing), it would be ... the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs have not one, but two long-limbed, agile centers in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen that figure to do just about as respectable a job against Wemby as one could reasonably expect in the years to come. Mobley, in particular, being still shy of 25 years old, stands out as one of the few players in the league who can actually be viewed as viable physical competition for Wembanyama.
This has to have the Cavs' front office thrilled that they've chosen to retain their double-center situation (rather than trade one of Mobley or Allen, as many fans have pushed for), and it also leads one to believe that Cleveland will pretty much consider Mobley untouchable in all trade discussions moving forward. This doesn't change the fact that the Cavs' defense is still extremely flawed on the perimeter, but it's still an important development, given Wembanyama's existence.
It seems like the league is trending toward a very specific theme: If you're not the Spurs, you'll eventually have to deal with Wemby on the path to a title. And if you don't have a ton of size in your frontcourt, you stand no chance.
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