Victor Wembanyama does it all on the basketball court. On Tuesday he put his scoring hat on.
The San Antonio Spurs superstar scored 25 points against the Los Angeles Lakers — in the first eight minutes of the game.
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It was a remarkable scoring output that no other Spurs player has produced in the play-by-play stat-tracking era dating back to 1997-98. That includes the tail end of David Robinson’s career, Kawhi Leonard’s Spurs prime and the entirety of Tim Duncan’s career.
He did it from inside and out and tallied most of those points during a stretch in which he scored 17 consecutive Spurs points.
Wembanyama went 8 of 9 from the field and 3 of 4 from the 3-point line while adding three rebounds during the opening flurry. The Spurs piled up a 47-30 lead against a Lakers team playing without Luka Dončić, LeBron James or Austin Reaves. The missed game was James’ 18th of the season, which made him ineligible for end-of-season awards and snapped his unprecedented 21-year All-NBA streak.
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By halftime, Wembanyama had 37 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the floor, 10-of-12 shooting from the line and 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc. He added 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in a stat line that would be outstanding for any NBA star for a full game.
The Spurs built an 84-55 lead at that point over the shorthanded Lakers. And with San Antonio on the first half of a back-to-back set, there wasn’t a ton of motivation to play him much after halftime.
Wembanyama dropped three points in the third quarter to get to 40 on the night. It was the sixth 40-point game of Wembanyama’s three-season career, one more than Duncan totaled in his 19 seasons.
By the end of that period, the Spurs’ lead had ballooned to 34 points. From there, the Spurs cruised to the 136-108 win without any further heroics needed from Wembanyama. He finished shooting 13 of 20 from the field with 12 rebounds and two assists to go with his 40 points.
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Luke Kennard led the Lakers with 14 points and five assists. Drew Timme added 14 points off the bench and Jaxson Hayes finished with 13 points. The Lakers fell to 32-21 with the loss. They’ll host the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday in their final game before the All-Star break.
Carter Bryant added 16 points off the bench for the Spurs to go with Wembanyama’s night. Dylan Harper finished with 15 points and Harrison Barnes added 11. They were the only other three players besides Wembanyama to hit double figures for San Antonio.
The Spurs have now won five straight to get to 37-16 on the season. They’ll take on the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.