With 2023 on the horizon, we’re nearing the midway point of the season. It’s still early to discuss the draft in certain terms, but there certainly are people in the NBA thinking hard about it, as this class has been looking pretty interesting, even for the teams that won’t get to draft Victor Wembanyama in June. At one point I thought about doing a New Year’s mailbag, but forgot, so instead I made up some questions to ask myself. Here are some draft-related items of consequence to ponder as we enter 2023.
1. How’s Victor Wembanyama doing?
Um … really well. He’s averaging nearly 23 points in addition to 9.6 rebounds and three blocks per game (leading the league in all three categories), and shooting 48% from the field. Metropolitans 92 owns an 11–4 record and sits in second place in France’s Pro A. They’re legit title challengers, and Wembanyama is the frontrunner for MVP. If we want to get nitpicky, he’s shooting only 29% from three, but that’s probably going to tick upward over time. We’re not going to worry about that. He turns 19 next week!
