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Wemby Watch: A jersey sale, a jersey fail and another tough week on the floor for Victor Wembanyama

Rookie's opening-night jersey fetches $760,000 at Sotheby's Tip-Off auction.

Michael C. Wright and Michaela Gilmer

Victor Wembanyama

Victor Wembanyama suffered back-to-back losses against former Spur Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers this week.

Stay up to date on No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama during his rookie campaign with the San Antonio Spurs. A new Wemby Watch drops every Sunday during the season. Here’s what we saw this week:

The Wemby effect 📈

The jersey Wembanyama wore in the second half of his NBA debut against the Dallas Mavericks recently auctioned at Sotheby’s for $760,000, serving as a bright spot for the company’s inaugural sale in its partnership with the NBA.

Sotheby’s Tip-Off auction sold more than 60 jerseys from the season’s opening week, as well as items from games played in previous seasons.

Interestingly, a gaffe featuring a misspelling of the Frenchman’s name might possibly fetch more.

Wembanyama played the first half at Golden State on Saturday wearing a jersey that subbed the second “M” in his last name with an “N.”

The rookie called the mistake “a real shame.”

“I don’t know if somebody got fired, but the Spurs did their job checking on my name,” he said.

Wembanyama played the second half at Golden State in a jersey with the correct spelling of his last name.

Praise from NBA legends 👏

The Warriors needed a bit of everything to get past the Spurs for an In-Season Tournament victory Friday, and superstar Stephen Curry explained some of the challenges his team encountered against the 7-foot-4 rookie:

“He makes you think. There are options out there, and ways to kind of counter it, but you can’t do the same thing you normally do,” Curry said. “He blocked my shot, on a floater. I don’t even think he jumped. So, it still catches you by surprise the stuff that he does just because of his stature out there.”

Wembanyama finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks in the loss.

1-man highlight reel 🤯

As you can see, the rookie covers some serious ground in just a couple steps.

His teammates ⛹️‍♂️

They’ve said all the right things, but Wembanyama and the Spurs are reeling from all the losses after a promising 3-2 start.

Shooting guard Devin Vassell revealed Wednesday that the team conducted a players-only meeting ahead of a Nov. 18 loss to Memphis in which the Spurs “addressed a lot of stuff,” while adding he anticipates changes “as the year goes on.”

Nobody’s discussing specifics, but Wembanyama left the meeting with a positive outlook.

“Any communication is good inside the team,” he said. “We’re lucky to have a very good connection with each other. We hold each other accountable. There’s never like bad intentions. It’s the right mindset we have right now.”

Work in progress ⏳

Popovich said the Spurs were in observation mode with Wemby earlier in the season, keeping the coaching points to a minimum as they continue to learn more about their prized rookie.

Little by little, though, Popovich and the Spurs are adding to Wembanyama’s game.

That was apparent after Wednesday’s morning shootaround, as Popovich and assistant Mitch Johnson worked with Wembanyama on post moves and creating separation from defenders.

The Spurs continue to work on a lot with the rookie, Popovich said, including “balance, strength, understanding who he’s guarding, [and] who’s guarding him” because “he doesn’t know any of these guys.”

In the News 🗞️

Popovich made headlines when he interjected during the second quarter of Wednesday’s loss to the LA Clippers to chastise fans for booing former Spur Kawhi Leonard.

The situation drew plenty of reactions league wide, but Wembanyama shrugged it off as if nothing happened. Coaches in the NBA don’t often grab an announcer’s mic during a game to convey messages to the crowd. 

No big deal to Wemby, though.

“My reaction was just I didn’t have a reaction during the game,” he said. “Looking back, it’s an interesting moment.”

Circle On Calendar 📅

The Spurs rookie faces former No. 1 pick Zion Williamson Friday in New Orleans (8 ET, NBA League Pass).

‘Welcome to the League’ moments 🤷‍♂️

Coach Popovich mentioned Friday that “every night is like a new experience” for Wembanyama, and you can definitely see that in these two clips:

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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

Michaela Gilmer is a producer for NBA.com.

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