Wembanyama reveals the key to his poor performance: "I need to think less"

Victor Wembanyama had the worst shooting game of his career during the season opener against Oklahoma City Thunder, with a 1 of 13 from the field, and acknowledged that he needs to regain the confidence and freedom with which he usually plays. The 116-104 loss also exposed San Antonio's difficulties in finding their identity with a new starting lineup.

The French center finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, and 6 blocks in 34 minutes, but was very off-target offensively. He missed all four of his three-point attempts, and as the mistakes piled up, he began to doubt his decisions. After the game, Wembanyama was clear about what needs to change.

“I feel it's quite clear. I need to go back to playing the basketball I like. This isn’t the sport I enjoy, the way I’m playing now. I have no reason to doubt, no reason not to be myself. For me, it’s that simple. I play well when I have fun,” the Frenchman explained.

His words reflect a performance where not only was he missing shots. Wembanyama also appeared indecisive with the ball and struggled to find his space when he wasn't directly involved in plays. Oklahoma City capitalized on those issues to close the paint and force the Spurs to look for solutions that they didn’t always find.

Wembanyama calls for less overthinking

The Frenchman acknowledged that the early misses affected his behavior throughout the rest of the game. Instead of continuing to look for shots he usually makes, he started to shy away from them and made questionable decisions.

“I missed a lot of shots I normally don’t miss. After that, I stopped trying those shots again. I was indecisive. Maybe I’m overthinking it,” he admitted.

His diagnosis was clear: he doesn’t need to do more but rather play more naturally. “What I really need is to let loose. I probably don’t need to do more, but think less,” he summarized.

However, the problem doesn’t only affect Wembanyama. San Antonio has opted for a starting lineup with De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper, three guards whose talent requires finding a new offensive balance. Harper is too promising to limit to a secondary role, but combining the three guards reduces available spacing and demands that Wembanyama can punish defenses when they concentrate near the rim.

Coach Mitch Johnson acknowledged that the team’s performance fell short of expectations: “Regardless of how many guards we played, all of them had difficulties tonight. It was a fairly widespread poor performance from everyone.”

The Spurs need to regain their defensive identity and speed to create points in transition, but also find answers when the opponent manages to slow down the pace. Against the Thunder, that second part of the game was particularly challenging.

Wembanyama called for patience before drawing definitive conclusions about the new system. “We still haven’t been good enough to figure it out. We need to start playing normally, being ourselves, before making conclusions. What hasn’t been normal? I think everything, a bit of everything,” he pointed out.

The challenge for San Antonio is not only to recover the best version of Wembanyama but to build a system in which its new pieces can coexist without limiting their strengths. The debut has raised questions, although Dylan Harper himself was confident that better days will come for the new lineup.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Wembanyama da la clave de su mal rendimiento: "Necesito pensar menos"