In what marked arguably the most highly anticipated NBA debut in 20 years, Victor Wembanyama played his first game as a member of the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night. So naturally, Fox’s ‘Undisputed’ used the opportunity to not only evaluate his performance, but project the entirety of the 19-year-old’s career. In what marked one Read more…
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In what marked arguably the most highly anticipated NBA debut in 20 years, Victor Wembanyama played his first game as a member of the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.
So naturally, Fox’s ‘Undisputed’ used the opportunity to not only evaluate his performance, but project the entirety of the 19-year-old’s career.
In what marked one of the show’s more ridiculous premises, the show asked whether its hosts can envision Wembanyama joining Michael Jordan and LeBron James in basketball’s GOAT (greatest of all time) conversation. Even Bayless — who’s never been shy to take a hard stand — was left rambling about intangibles, heart, Kyrie Irving and Tim Duncan before ultimately (and correctly) concluding that it’s too early to compare Wembanyama to basketball’s all-time greats.
“It’s hard for me to even think about Michael Jordan,” Bayless said. “You want to talk about the all-time cold-blooded basketball assassin? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
.@RealSkipBayless is not ready to put Wemby’s name with Lebron James or Michael Jordan: pic.twitter.com/EbXWXJVA4R
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) October 26, 2023
In another segment on the show, Bayless seemed to carve out his spot as a Wemby skeptic, downplaying his 15-point, 5-rebound debut as underwhelming. It’s already easy to see that the 71-year-old is going to rely on the tired trope that the 7-foot-4 big man is “soft” because he appears to favor playing on the perimeter as opposed to inside the paint.
“At 7-foot, four inches tall, he sees himself as more Steph [Curry] than Shaq,” Bayless told co-hosts Paul Pierce and Keyshawn Johnson. “And it drives me a little crazy that he does not want to assert himself in the paint yet at all.”
While Bayless has yet to take too strong of a stand on Wembanyama, it will be interesting to see how his stances evolve. For years now, Bayless has made his name — and millions of dollars — hating on the likes of LeBron James and Aaron Rodgers while unconditionally loving Michael Jordan and Baker Mayfield. With Wembanyama poised to be a fixture in the NBA for years to come, one would imagine that the ridiculous conversations about him aren’t going anywhere.
