Though he did not take home the gold medal from the Paris Olympics, Victor Wembanyama did acquire the silver medal and something far more valuable: the opportunity to learn from Kevin Durant. Following the France-USA game, the two stars embraced. Wembanyama later sent parts of their talks forward. “I made it plain to him that I wanted to learn from him and maybe steal one or two of his trademark techniques,” he stated.

Wembanyama has studied the Phoenix Suns player’s game and long liked Durant. Given the two’s similar heights, shooting prowess, and grace, that makes sense. If Wemby included some of Durant’s signature moves into his own game, he would be formidable. From Durant, Wemby can pick three strategies that will help him to advance. Three Techniques Victor Wembanyama Should Study from Kevin Durant Jimbo’s hesitant pull-up Associated with Kevin Durant’s career, this is a trademark move. It gained notoriety following a 2017 tweet whereby he observed, “you probably don’t understand what I just said if you don’t ACTUALLY play basketball.”

 

For those not familiar, Durant’s trademark pull-up jimbo is hesi. He stops abruptly after dribbling, feinting, then steps back and fires. Durant is relentless and has applied it all through his career. Durant averaged 51.8 percent of his shots in previous season. Regarding mid-range accuracy, Wembanyama falls short of his senior. On mid-range shots last season, the San Antonio Spurs star only scored 33.7%. Wembanyama’s efficiency will much improve if he can master the Hesi pull-up jimbo, a technique that helps raise the angle of the shot. Mastery of the Hesi pull-up jimbo is not simple, though. Players must have good ball handling skills, seamless dribbling to throwing transition, and avoidance of detection.

Wembanyama’s average throws throughout last season were a little hurried and easy for opponent prediction. Especially in combination with his 2m24 body, this method assists the French centre to extend the throwing angle and increases the difficulty for opponent stopping. Head tapped This is a relatively basic approach; Durant has numerous choices to execute since the teammates screen in two directions. Should Durant switch with a defender, he can decide to cut near the hoop. Durant will choose option 2, which is to run around and make a medium shot, if the opponent sets a lot of people under the hoop though. As the outer circle will be empty and vice versa if the opponent has a lot of pressure under the hoop. Durant constantly acts ahead and choose the best offensive path. For Wembanyama, this is ideal. Durant and Wembanyama are two of the few NBA players that fit both dangerous on the inside and outside criteria nowadays. Wembanyama can be positioned nicely to score via both the head tap and the hesi jimbo. From Durant, that is the most important lesson he can pick. Nobody can reach Wemby’s shooting range if he positions himself well and enters shooting stance before he gets closed. Spurs used a variation of the “head tap” last season and it worked really well. After fade away Durant was among the top post-up shooters around back in his OKC Thunder days. He was among the most effective scorers in that range during the next years. In this stance, Durant is quite dangerous since he can pivot around and combined with his height of 6 feet 11in no one can reach his shooting range.

Imagine Wembanyama applying this technique; it would be even more horrible. Wemby has a throw range well exceeding Durant and is 2m24 tall. Though he is big, Wemby is not a very good post-up player. Last season he was in the 27th percentile, completing only 46% of the tackles and usually losing control. Durant puts up decisive posts. When the opponent is focused on him, he also performs rather well passing the ball. Wembanyama likewise has to learn this. Still lacking is his capacity for coordination and teammate position recognition. Durant has developed his height and flexibility maximising techniques. Wembanyama should also grow and learn in the way Durant has travelled.