Victor Wembanyama admires as Spurs upend miserable Mavs

Victor Wembanyama is back with a bang and says there is more to come.

The Frenchman made his long-awaited return from deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder to propel the San Antonio Spurs to a 125-92 season-opening win over the Dallas Mavericks.

He became the first player since 1977-78 to score 40 points with 15 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 70 percent from the field in a remarkable all-around game that was too much for the home team.

After a summer in which Wembanyama spent time with monks in China and trained with former NBA stars Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Garnett, he returned a changed man.

« (I was) much more in control of myself, » Wembanyama told ESPN. « The mind, I don’t worry about (it) because I’ve seen what it’s like to face the potential loss of a lot, whether it’s your career or your health. So I don’t take that for granted anymore. The body? I’m having more fun now that it’s not hard to move as much. I know I still have to get better and I’m going to get better. »

This is what we’ve been working for – Wemby

It’s an ominous prospect for the rest of the league. If he can stay fit then Wembanyama and Spurs will be a tough team to beat.

« It feels like every day we are trying to put a brick to build a huge mansion, and it seemed like the job was done for the day, » Wembanyama added.

« This is what we’ve worked for. This is what we’ve been fighting for for so long and I just felt like it was the right fit. I felt like I belonged. We needed to make a statement in our locker room. It really felt like there wasn’t anything we really could have done more to help us today. It felt like we did everything we needed to do.

« We felt ready and we felt like we weren’t going to regret things that we had to work on or things that we had to do over the summer. I was comfortable with the work that we put in and the preparation up to this point. Now the dice are all rolled in the Western Conference. »

Flag shaded as Mavs struggle

It was a rough welcome to the NBA for No. 1 overall draft pick Cooper Flagg, whose main emotion was amazement at Wembanyama.

« He’s amazing. He’s a different player, » Flagg said. « You don’t know what it is until you get on the court with him. It’s something I’ve never seen before. He was great tonight, but we’ve got to do a better job of just trying to take some of his looks away and not fouling him as much as we did. »

As for his own performance, Flagg struggled, scoring 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting.

« Not great, » Flagg said when asked to rate his display. « Obviously we didn’t play incredibly well, but we’ve got to get past that, get our focus back and start looking toward Friday (against Washington). »

Flagg got support from teammate Anthony Davis, who led the Mavs with 22 points.

« First game. I mean, he’s still a rookie, » Davis said. « You go in and the preseason was obviously good, but when that game came up in (a) packed stadium, a nationally televised game … I’m not sure if he’s a social media guy or not, but you saw it — it was all No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg and Wembey and all that stuff. So you’re starting to hear it and I’m not sure if it’s rubbed off on him, but it’s first-game jitters when it’s time for the real thing, so he’ll fixed it.