Victor Wembanyama Every Day We Try To Lay A Brick To Build A Huge Mansion

Victor Wembanyama had 40 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and zero turnovers in the San Antonio Spurs’ 125-92 win over the Dallas Mavericks as he played his first game in eight months and 11 days since he was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis.

“[I was] much more in control of myself,” Wembanyama said. “The mind, I’m not worried about [that] because I saw what it’s like to be confronted with potentially losing a lot, whether it’s your career or your health. So, I’m not taking this for granted anymore. The body? I’m having more fun now that I’m not struggling to move as much. I know I still need to get better, and I’m still going to get better.”

“He’s been out eight months,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “So, you saw him take the moment and play spectacular. But honestly, the most impressive line [is] zero turnovers. The amount of fundamentally sound plays he made tonight was impressive.”

Stephon Castle and Wembanyama either scored or assisted on 42 of San Antonio’s 60 first-half points as the Spurs led by nine at the break.

“It feels like every day we try to lay a brick to build a huge mansion, and it felt like the job was done for the day,” Wembanyama said. “This is what we’ve been working for. This is what we’ve struggled for, for so long, and I just felt like it fits. I felt like I was in my place. We needed to make a statement in our locker room. The feeling really was that there wasn’t anything we really could have done more to help us today. It felt like we did everything we needed to do. We felt ready and we felt like we wouldn’t have any regret about things we should have worked on or things we should have done in the summer. I was comfortable with the work we put in and with the preparation up to this point. Now all the dice are thrown in the Western Conference.”