How Great Is Victor Wembanyama At Age 22? Bill Simmons Explains

When phenomenal stars take the NBA by storm at such a young age, fans and analysts usually hype them up to no end. In the case of Victor Wembanyama, though, the hype appears to be warranted.

Bill Simmons, in fact, is so impressed with Wemby that he’s drawing comparisons with a number of legends who imposed their will on the league at age 22 or younger. In a recent episode of his self-titled podcast, Simmons drew up a list of all-time greats that set a precedent for the San Antonio Spurs big man.

Fittingly, Simmons said that the best 22-or-younger player thus far has been a Spurs franchise player as well. “Tim Duncan’s the best one. Duncan in ‘99…Finals MVP, and they win the title…the consensus is, he was the best start-to-finish player that we watched in 1999.”

Simmons may be a Boston Celtics fanatic, but the next names he enumerated were from his beloved squad’s rival team. “Magic [Johnson] won Finals MVP at age 20, and then he won [another] title and he was Second Team All-NBA in ‘82. Kobe won two-in-a-row titles, was second All-NBA at 21 and 22,” Simmons said.

After listing the accomplishments of other prodigies like Shaquille O’Neal, Derrick Rose, and Wes Unseld, Simmons stated that Wembanyama is already part of this lofty conversation. “What’s at stake for Wemby here is, he has a chance to win MVP,” he acknowledged. “I don’t think he’ll win, but he’ll finish top two. And he has a chance to win the title, which is rarefied air.”

Of course, mentor figures around Wembanyama will tell the 22-year-old that his NBA career is a marathon, not a sprint. This year, the 7-foot-4 phenom is putting the wraps on only his third season in the league. If the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry (as well as Wembanyama’s fellow European icon Dirk Nowitzki) have taught youngsters anything, it’s that longevity can and should be the name of the game these days.

Wembanyama already has a stuffed résumé at this point: two All-Star selections, an All-Defensive First Team nod, the 2024 Rookie of the Year award, and two seasons in a row of leading the league in blocks. There’s no reason for this young man to slow down, and when all is said and done in the 2025-26 campaign, Wemby might be hugging the richest prize in the league for the first time. And, in all likelihood, not the last.