ESPN (DR) / NBA (DR)

One of the most renowned analysts since his retraining, JJ Redick has made a habit of dissecting the Victor Wembanyama case since the start of the season. This is what he did again recently by astonishingly comparing him to a certain… Michael Jordan.

Quite logically, the first choices of the different draft classes receive particular attention in the American sports media. 

The 2023 NBA vintage is obviously no exception with Victor Wembanyama heavily scrutinized since his debut in the league. 

A certain pressure which, however, seems to have no impact on his already monstrous performance.

JJ Redick stunned by a stat from Victor Wembanyama

Retired since 2021, JJ Redick is one of the most popular media personalities in the NBA landscape. 

As an ESPN consultant, he was therefore called on several occasions to comment on the prowess of Wembanyama, whom until recently he put on an equal footing with Chet Holmgren . 

This, before the Frenchman made him change his mind, as he recounts in his podcast The Old Man & the Three :

Earlier in the season, when I watched him, I just saw him play. 

You could tell Pop’ was just letting him do his thing and play the way he wanted. And lately, when I watched him, I saw him thinking more about how to play well and how to exploit mismatches, his size and his unique abilities. 

This fact of thinking as he does now represents his progress for me.

Although he has always displayed a high basketball IQ on the court – including during his first matches across the Atlantic – Wemby needed time to adapt to take full advantage of it on site. 

Now, he is starting to understand how to take over defenses thanks to his qualities. This is logically reflected in its increasingly impressive performances.

In order to illustrate this ultimate statement, Redick launched into a list of crazy statistics about the young French international. 

One of them, relating to his average points scored per minute, particularly frightened him:

Here’s a crazy one brought to us by Matthew Williams, our stats guru at ESPN. Wemby has the highest points per minute average for a rookie since 1984-85. We haven’t seen this since Michael Jordan!

As a reminder, Michael Jordan finished his rookie season with an average of 28.2 points per game and 0.74 points per minute. 

Victor, for his part, displays a slightly lower ratio of 0.72 points per minute, which is no less astonishing, as evidenced by Redick’s reaction.

After showing restraint regarding Victor Wembanyama, JJ Redick gradually got on the train and does not seem ready to get off. And what could be more logical given his performance, never seen since Michael Jordan for a rookie.