As Spurs come to Austin, star rookie Wembanyama wants to see Longhorns play

AUSTIN (KXAN) — What impresses Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama most about the NBA? The consistency of the league’s stars, he said. And by how things are currently going, he’ll join those ranks sooner rather than later.

Ahead of San Antonio’s “home game” against the Denver Nuggets on Friday at Moody Center in the I-35 Series opener, Wembanyama was asked what the most “eye-opening” thing he’s learned in his first year in the world’s top professional basketball league. He was frank, saying the best players in the league show up every single night.

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“Taking the challenge every night, going through the scouting reports, working through pain and adversity,” he said, “that’s what impresses me the most. The hardest thing is being consistent through 82 games.”

It’s not to say he hasn’t been consistent this season. After all, he just turned 20 years old and is already averaging a double-double per game with 20.7 points and 10.3 rebounds. For a 7-foot-4 man who can’t buy a beer yet still be in the NBA, that’s incredible even playing for one of the worst teams in the league. He’ll learn more from games like he had against Houston on Tuesday, a 5-for-12 shooting performance for 13 points, compared to his March 3 game against Indiana in which he blew up for 31 points.

Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is in his 26th season at the helm and said his star rookie’s basketball acumen is one thing, but the personality of the precocious Frenchman is almost unbelievable.

“His emotional maturity and comfortableness in the world is pretty astounding for such a young man,” Popovich said. “He’s not involved in any of the hype, he just wants to become a great basketball player and enjoy his life, family and friends. He’s not a fan of himself, so to speak. The celebrity that he’s already garnered doesn’t really affect him. He wins with class and he loses with grace, and we’re fortunate to have someone with that kind of character to build around.”

The matchup with the defending NBA champion Nuggets (46-20) in Austin is the second of the season for the Spurs (14-52). Denver won 132-120 on Nov. 26 at home, and the teams are slated to go back to Denver on April 2 and to Front Bank Center in San Antonio on April 12. Denver has one of the league’s most consistent players in center Nikola Jokic who averages 26 points, 12.3 rebounds and 9.2 assists per game. He scored 39 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and had nine assists in the first meeting with the Spurs. That’s the kind of performance Wembanyama is talking about, and he said he’s learned a lot just by watching Jokic.

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In a season full of firsts for him, Wembanyama said life on the road in the NBA is very different than in France. He said having a normal sleep schedule is “impossible” and he has to sleep on modified beds because not many hotels have regular beds that fit one of the NBA’s tallest players. He said having a routine helps but he can’t always stick to it.

“You have to sleep whenever you can,” he said. “Sometimes you have to catch up, too. The one day during the all-star break that I didn’t set an alarm and we didn’t have practice, I woke up at 1:30 p.m. I don’t know how that happened.”

He said he’d love to see the Texas Longhorns play since he didn’t play college basketball. He started playing professionally in France when he was 15. He said he “has a lot to learn about Austin,” but one of the coaches gave him some recommendations on where to get dinner.

The Spurs will stick around Austin to face the Brooklyn Nets to close the I-35 Series on Sunday. Tipoff for Friday’s game is 7:30 p.m.

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