NBA legend Charles Barkley could barely contain his amazement while talking about San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama, delivering massive praise caught the attention of basketball fans everywhere.
During a recent discussion about the young phenom, Barkley compared Wembanyama to Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal before explaining why he believes the Spurs star is the league has never truly seen before.
“Shaq is the most physically gifted 7-foot guy that I ever seen,” Barkley said. “This guy is four inches taller. He’s athletic and can shoot 3s. It is a beautiful thing to watch.”
“We’ve seen big guys, but we never seen a big guy that big with that athletic ability,” he continued. “It’s unbelievable.”
The comments quickly spread across social media as fans once again marveled at how rapidly Wembanyama is changing perceptions around what a player his size can actually do on a basketball court.
Standing around 7-foot-4 with guard-like movement, elite shot-blocking ability, and deep shooting range, Wembanyama has already become one of the NBA’s most terrifying matchup problems despite.
Many analysts have compared his skill set to a video game character because of how unnatural his combination of size, mobility, and scoring ability appears at times.
But hearing someone like Barkley compare him to Shaq while also suggesting he may be even more physically unique says everything about the level of hype now surrounding the Spurs superstar.
Fans online immediately reacted to Barkley’s comments.“Wemby really looks like a created player,” one fan wrote.Another added, “When Charles Barkley sounds shocked, you know the player is different.”
Others pointed out that even Shaq himself has repeatedly praised Wembanyama throughout his rookie and sophomore seasons.