Victor Wembanyama has already staked his claim as one of the best players in the world. He finished third in NBA MVP voting, falling to Thunder Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In his first playoff run, he has brought the San Antonio Spurs to the Western Conference Finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder are still the favorites in this series as defending champions who got back to the Western Conference Finals unscathed, a perfect 8-0 in this postseason.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are looking to figure out a way to get past the Spurs in a series that is expected to go the distance. The Thunder get a big boost by getting All-NBA swingman Jalen Williams back into the fold after he missed Oklahoma City's past six playoff games.
San Antonio touts an impressive 4-1 record against the Oklahoma City Thunder this season, even with the caveat that the Spurs' fourth win came against an active roster of just eight, largely non-rotational, players.
Containing Wembanyama is a difficult task as the head of the snake of these Spurs. Though the addition of Williams back into the lineup will be huge as Oklahoma City has often opted to put the Santa Clara product or Alex Caruso and even Kenrich Williams on the Spurs big man whose proportions are so out of this world he is rightfully labeled an alien.
In five games against the Thunder, Wembanyama averaged 18.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and swatted six shots in 126 minutes while shooting 52% from the floor, a jaw-dropping 62% from distance (on eight attempts) and 63% at the charity stripe. The Spurs big man only got the start for two of the five matchups as he returned from an early-season injury to tip off the five-game regular-season series.
Oklahoma City has to be comfortable playing the Spurs' big man more straight up in this series than they did in the regular season. The Thunder would often swarm Wembanyama at the catch point and allowed his gravity to open cuts, driving lanes and high-quality shots for others. This Spurs team is too talented to ignore.
Make no mistake, when Wembanyama starts to drive that is when the Thunder should gap hard, even send an extra body and especially have a rim protector rotate down and looming at the ring.
However, the immediate focus should be to trust in Williams and Caruso to play underneath Wembanyama, push him out when he receives the ball and try to make life as uncomfortable as possible on the Spurs big man to settle for jumpers.
Where Oklahoma City ran into trouble was with the amount of coverage Wembanyama received, which also caused a lapse in the Thunder's point of attack defense on the Spurs' ball handlers, De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, and Steph Castle. That is not an option in this series or San Antonio will burn OKC.
Defending a player like the Spurs superstar, much like Gilgeous-Alexander is a no-win proposition. These two players are simply too good and can solve any coverage put before them. Forcing them to continue to adjust while attempting to shut down their complementary pieces is the only route to find success for Oklahoma City and company. As is the case on the Spurs side of the coin.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/thunder/onsi as OKC Thunder Must Figure Out Defense on Victor Wembanyama.
