This week in 2023: Victor Wembanyama scores 15 in his NBA debut, and Dallas spoils the night 126-119

Victor Wembanyama played his first regular-season NBA game on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, scoring 15 points for the San Antonio Spurs in a 126-119 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The result was forgettable; the arrival was not. Three seasons later, the 19-year-old who walked onto the Frost Bank Center floor that night is the reason San Antonio enters this season as a title favorite.

The night itself

The French center, listed at nearly 7-foot-4, needed less than a minute to make his first defensive impression, blocking a shot in the opening minute. His first NBA points came on a three-pointer with 8:25 left in the first quarter, and he added another from the right wing before the period ended. San Antonio led 43-36 after one.

Fouls then shaped his evening. Wembanyama was whistled twice in the opening quarter and picked up his fourth with 8:37 to go in the third, on a light contact call while setting a screen. Within a minute Dallas had its first lead of the game at 73-72. He had six points through three quarters before returning midway through the fourth and scoring nine more, including a dunk.

His final line: 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 3 of 5 from deep, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in 23 minutes and 19 seconds, along with five turnovers. He missed his only free throw.

Luka Doncic decided it. The Dallas star finished with 33 points and a triple-double, and the Mavericks closed the game on an 8-0 run. Kyrie Irving added 22 points, and another debutant, rookie center Dereck Lively II, went 7 of 8 from the floor for 16 points and 10 rebounds. Devin Vassell led the Spurs with 23, and Keldon Johnson had 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. The crowd was 18,947.

Doncic was generous afterward. “He’s going to be amazing, he already is,” he said of the rookie, according to reports.

Why it mattered

San Antonio had gone 22-60 the season before, and the draft lottery that delivered Wembanyama turned a rebuilding franchise into a global story overnight. The club sold standing-room tickets for the opener and fielded more than 200 media credential requests from eight countries, the AP reported.

What it led to

The debut was the first step of a historic rookie year. Wembanyama averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and a league-leading 3.6 blocks across 71 games and was named Rookie of the Year unanimously in May 2024, receiving all 99 first-place votes and becoming the first French player to win the award. He has led the league in blocks in each of his three seasons, and last June he carried the Spurs to the NBA Finals, where they fell to the Knicks.

Of the four players who started beside him that night, only Vassell is still in San Antonio’s opening five. The Spurs now pair the two with De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, and NBA general managers picked them as this season’s title favorites.

What comes next

Wembanyama opens his fourth season when the Spurs host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, October 20, at 9:30 p.m. ET at Frost Bank Center. Follow it in the Game Center.