Wemby-Scoot II and a Glimpse Into the Future of the NBA
Wemby-Scoot II and a Glimpse Into the Future of the NBA
The long-awaited rematch of the Las Vegas battle between Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson lived up to the hype.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Outside of Damian Lillard’s homecoming next month, Thursday has stood out on the Trail Blazers’ schedule since the day it was released in August as the date with the most intrigue.
For the first time since last October, when nearly every NBA front office was on hand in Las Vegas for an exhibition game between Metropolitans 92 and G League Ignite, Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson faced off. Their planned rematch at Summer League in July was scuttled when Henderson got hurt. And a freak accident during warmups last week meant Wembanyama will only be playing one end of this back-to-back. Sucks for anyone who has tickets to Friday night’s encore presentation, which will look a lot more like two teams with a combined 13 wins facing off.
Henderson found out he was going to start earlier in the day on Thursday, and it wasn’t because of any strategic change from Chauncey Billups. Anfernee Simons woke up feeling under the weather, and Shaedon Sharpe is still out with the adductor injury that’s sidelined him for the past three games.
Far from being entrenched in the Blazers’ starting lineup as many thought he would be before the season started, Henderson got that nod by default for the matchup with the most eyes squarely on him. Billups implied before the game that Henderson had the rematch with Wembanyama circled. He denied this was the case when I asked him about it postgame.
“Nah. Same mindset I had last time going against him,” Henderson said. “Worry about myself and our team. I can’t really focus too much on them.”
In the little time I’ve had to get to know Henderson since the Blazers drafted him in June, he’s been someone who’s gone to great lengths to seem unbothered by everything that’s come with the spotlight of his life as a No. 3 overall pick. Before his NBA debut in October, he insisted he wasn’t thinking about going against his childhood idol, Russell Westbrook. So that answer after his rematch with Wembanyama wasn’t surprising.
But Henderson was a little late coming into the locker room after the game because he wanted to get in another full workout, less than an hour after starting and playing 36 minutes in an NBA game. Part of that is the things your body is able to do when you’re 19. It was also a sign that, whatever he said to the contrary, he took this loss a little more personally.