Despite Victor Wembanyama falling short of leading the San Antonio Spurs to a win over the New York Knicks in the recent NBA Finals matchup, the world has witnessed his potential to become the face of the league.
Joakim Noah, a former Defensive Player of the Year and one of the fiercest centers in the league a decade ago, sat down exclusively with Hard Rock Bet to talk about all-time centers.
Noah admired Wembanyama and already put him into the all-time great centers, despite his young age.
“I’m going to go with somebody I never got to play against, but I would say Wemby. You know, Wemby needs to be talked about with the greats already. I think the pain of losing in this Finals against the Knicks, I think it’s going to be interesting how he rebounds from this, how he comes back,” Noah said.
The former Bulls center interestingly discussed how Wembanyama will bounce back next season after the Finals loss.
“But what I’m looking forward to is the pain of losing a Finals that they were so close to winning. It was Knicks in five, but let’s not forget there was a 27-point lead in the fourth quarter that they lost. They lost some games – that experience plays such a major role,” he explained.
The two-time NBA All-Star has placed the 22-year-old French superstar in the all-time centers list already along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Ewing, and Dikembe Mutombo.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing, you know, what the next five years look like for him. So I would say Wemby at five. For a guy that’s not on that list that should be on this list is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You know, Kareem, you know, obviously one of the greats,” Noah added.
