The NBA is back! Just like your favorite superhero story, the league brings fun, entertainment, and a lot of uncanny subplots to unpack. That’s why NBA.com Philippines decided to preview the new season comic-book style. We pick out fantastic characters that will take the stage and new amazing arcs to watch out for. Bang! Pow! Boom! Let’s go!
What’s their superpower?
The Spurs’ superpower was being bad for a couple of years after being great for almost two decades. Now, those bad couple of years bore fruit in the form of a first overall draft pick.
This draft pick, however, will not be like the other draft picks that came before it. This draft pick comes in the form of a 19-year-old mashup of all the good things we like about basketball, all crammed up in a 7-foot-4 wiry frame.
All that, to say that the Spurs’ biggest hero for many, many years to come is Victor Wembanyama.
What’s their kryptonite?
In the Spurs’ final preseason game, Wemby scored 19 points and swatted five blocks in 20 minutes. Cool. A couple of top 10 cats can do that in this era of NBA talent. But watch the highlights of those 20 minutes and—guaranteed—the manner of how those numbers were acquired was just out of this world.
So where’s the kryptonite there? It’s in the insane hype and great expectations that come with a generational talent like Victor Wembanyama.
Who is their biggest hero?
Gregg Popovich could’ve handed over the head coaching job to someone else and his career would’ve been legendary, but here we are in 2023, and Coach Pop is still Coach Pop.
This is the best case scenario that the Spurs hoped for: drafting a franchise cornerstone in Wembanyama and having Pop to steer him to the right direction. Wemby is all five Infinity Stones, but Popovich has the Infinity Gauntlet.
Who is their biggest villain?
All 29 teams that Wemby isn’t playing for right now are all villains for the Spurs. That would’ve been the case anyway if they didn’t have Wemby, but now that they do, the entire league will want to take a crack at the wunderkind.
How does their story play out?
Season 1 is the origin story, the one where Wemby discovers his special skills and finally gets to put on the suit. This means that a championship is far from reality in this first go.
Come back in four to five years when Wemby and the team that will mold itself in his being, when Wemby is battle-scarred. That’s when the true gifts of this new NBA superpower will be at his strongest. He’ll be 23 years old then.
