The Athletic: Giannis sees Wembanyama as a ‘nightmare’ one day, if he can get there in one piece

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SAN ANTONIO — Giannis Antetokounmpo understands how precious health in the NBA is for a unicorn. Before Victor Wembanyama redefined the relationship between size and skill, that was Antetokounmpo’s job. He was the unicorn before the horn inched longer and the rainbow tail grew fluffier.

He understands what it’s like to do something that’s not supposed to be done. He also understands why it’s so incredibly hard to make it last.

So after the San Antonio Spurs’ 119-101 thrashing of the Milwaukee Bucks, Antetokounmpo and Wembanyama met at center court, covered their mouths, and discussed something they didn’t want everyone to hear.

Though Antetokounmpo did not reveal the specifics of the conversation, he spent several minutes hinting at its context. This may not have been a passing of the torch between mythical beings, but it was certainly a mutual admiration of the flame.

“I had the opportunity to speak to him after the game and as long as he stays healthy, he’s the future of this league. The sky’s the limit,” Antetokounmpo said. “He’s just gotta put his head down, work and just lead his team to win in games.”

But there it was, the ever-necessary caveat. The “if.” The “as long as.” Wembanyama, who had 22 points in 22 minutes, inspires an incredible amount of wonder and hope, with an unmistakable asterisk. That little star began to subsume the hype over this past week. As much as his potential is sky-high, his greatest enemy is the legs that bring him back to earth.

He just keeps getting hurt. Against the Thunder, he went down too many times to count. For several brief moments, the fear that his season could be in jeopardy struck a chord. Then it reached the next level on Thursday when the two giants clashed and only one made it out unscathed.

There was a knee-to-knee collision between Wembanyama and Antetokounmpo in the first quarter that sent the Spurs star swiftly hobbling to the locker room, evoking fears that the constant body blows finally broke him down. He eventually returned in the second quarter and his shooting broke the game open, but the sight of him running straight to the back halls made the uncertainty of his longevity all too real.

Sources close to Wembanyama discussed under anonymity the desire for him to refine his injury prevention methods during the course of play, particularly to limit the number of times he hits the floor a night. Wembanyama has a knack for going down frequently, typically in an attempt to reduce torsion on his ankles or knees when he lands awkwardly. The severity of landing injuries usually comes when a joint fully bears the load in an unstable position, causing damage.

Hit the deck, minimize the risk. But that energy has to go somewhere. Time doesn’t heal all wounds. Sometimes, it punishes them.

“I’ve always felt lucky that I’ve always had great instincts in this matter, and on the court in general, on how to place my body and protect it,” Wembanyama said. “But I would say the harder thing for which I have to prepare mentally is to be ready to hurt rather than to be ready to protect. Sometimes, it’s going to hurt or something you’re going to have to do some things that feel counterintuitive, but it’s for the better.”

Wemby headed to the locker room after bumping knees with Giannis. pic.twitter.com/QbA9cSnwIE

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 16, 2026

In an interview with The Athletic, mobility trainer Kadour Ziani, who helped teach Wembanyama his “Seven Postures” program, spoke at length about Wembanyama’s advanced senses of body positioning and pain awareness. These traits matter when going up against the best, most physical players. The ones who do not need to fear him. The greats from whom he still has much to learn.

It’s going to hurt at some point when facing Antetokounmpo, who had 21 points in 22 minutes. He relishes the contact. It’s what drives his entire game. But it wasn’t always that way.

When Antetokounmpo was drafted as a relatively unknown skinny teenager from Greece, he was only 6-foot-9 and 190 pounds. With proper nutrition supplied by an NBA team and a dogged determination in the weight room, Antetokounmpo quickly grew bigger and stronger year-over-year and now officially weighed 243 pounds at the start of his 13th NBA season.

Antetokounmpo recounted his journey through the league, going from a skinny athlete as a rookie to Jason Kidd’s 7-foot point-forward by the time he was Wembanyama’s age. That experiment worked, as Antetokounmpo morphed into an All-Star starter before his opponents even realized it was time to take him seriously.

“The game was really easy for me and the reason I say that is because people didn’t figure me out yet and they didn’t respect me,” he said.

In his fifth year, that’s when the his rivalry with the hardwood took over. A teammate recently revealed to him that, at a previous stop, opposing coaches would write on the whiteboard pregame how many times they wanted to throw Antetokounmpo to the floor. They knew breaking him down physically would make it harder for him to break them down off the dribble.

One of Antetokounmpo’s defining traits, even when he was a skinny teenager, has been his willingness to attack the basket and draw fouls. That meant hitting the deck a lot early on. But over the years, those trips to the free throw line earned by being sent sprawling to the floor have transformed into poster dunks and those poster dunks have now turned into a package of creative finishes that keep him on his feet.

His greatest strength — i.e., strength — was a weakness when the opponent would lean into it. It took some adjustment and self-reflection for Antetokounmpo to figure out how to counter the counter.

“As you understand the game better, you get over yourself,” Antetokounmpo said. “You know your strengths, you know your weaknesses. You just try to play within your strength and then you become more efficient and you let the game come to you.”

Wembanyama is clearly learning how to navigate this stage of his career. He is in a purgatory between learning his potential and his limits. It’s meant an unrefined game carried by an unrelenting ambition and talent. He keeps trying to do things nobody else can do and he gets close enough often enough to make it work. He’s starting to find some rhythm shooting and caught fire from deep to blow the game open when he returned from the knee injury.

Maybe the collision helped him realize that he should be taking the easy way out and thinking bigger picture. He knows he is the target.

“Of course. But we have a target on the other team’s best players as well,” Wembanyama said. “So never in a dirty way, but that’s just what we have to go through. Especially against a guy like Giannis, I think you have to be ready to give up your body for this matchup, because no matter what, you’re not gonna get out of there 100 percent.”

It’s been a little while since Wembanyama walked away from a game anywhere near 100 percent. He did say his joints feel better than expected at the halfway point of the season. This stretch of games, 40-through-60, tend to be the toughest for everyone across the league. Getting to the other side of it with a rhythm will be a good sign that Wembanyama will be ready for his playoff debut.

“I feel the like the moment he’s able to keep on growing his game and growing as a player, just getting older, he’s going to figure out his spot,” Antetokounmpo said. “No matter what the test is, he will just have the answers.”

Antetokounmpo just hopes to see what it looks like when Wembanyama gets to the top. As much as he was gassing up his opponent, they’re still opponents. It’s out of respect, kinship in European giant-hood, and a desire for a greater challenge.

“He’s going to be in his final level and then it’s going to be a nightmare,” Antetokounmpo said. “Because I’m a competitor, I love playing against the best. I would love to see that final stage and face that final stage before I’m too old. You want to have it on your resume, you want to play the best.”

Wembanyama knows he is capable of understanding the questions, but he certainly does not have the answers yet. He announced his physicality at the beginning of the year, the league gasped, then they figured him out. Just look at how Julius Randle shoved him around in that Minnesota loss. Wembanyama has clear weaknesses; he just usually can get around those weaknesses by leaning into his strengths.

Antetokounmpo was around his age when everything started to click, but then he needed another wake-up call to go from good to great to MVP. Wembanyama still has several more steps to go. But he has to know where and how he’s stepping to make sure he doesn’t trip and stumble on his way toward the top. He owes it to his new friend, who wants to meet him while they’re both at the top, just for posterity’s sake.

“When I have four kids, I will be able to sit down on the couch and watch the clips with them and say ‘I played against that guy.’” Antetokounmpo said. “‘One time I dunked on him, one time I blocked him. But many other times, he got me.’”

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By Jared Weiss and Eric Nehm