Is Wembanyama Already the Best Player in the NBA? Yes.

Victor Wembanyama put up 52 points, 24 rebounds and 8 blocks in 34 minutes on Nov. 4, 2026, and the Spurs beat the Mavericks 112-111. He was sick with a virus. He rolled his ankle in the fourth quarter, sat for a few minutes, and came back. Kyrie Irving missed a 15-footer that would have won it for Dallas. San Antonio is on a six-game win streak after opening 0-2.

So: is Wembanyama already the best player in the NBA?

Yes. Right now, today, he is the most complete two-way force in the league. Not the best scorer. Not the safest MVP bet over 82 games. The best player. One night does not settle an MVP race. This one settles the "is he already that guy" argument for me.

I wrote about Wembanyama as a prospect in why Victor Wembanyama will be great. That piece was about the future. This one is about the present.

01 What He Actually Did

Per the NBA.com box score and the NBA.com / Associated Press write-up:

NBA.com says he is the first player with 50+ points, 20+ rebounds and 5+ blocks in a game since Bob McAdoo on Feb. 22, 1974. Blocks became an official NBA stat in 1973-74, so that comparison is about as clean as historical defense gets. McAdoo had 52 with 20+ boards and 5+ blocks that night for Buffalo against Boston; Wembanyama just matched the points and blew past the rest of the line.

The first half alone was historic on its own terms. NBA.com notes he became the first player since the play-by-play era began in 1996-97 with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in a half.

On the 50/20 club without the block filter, the last player before Wembanyama was Luka Doncic: 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists against the Knicks on Dec. 27, 2022. That was a pure offense-and-boards night. Wembanyama's version added eight blocked shots. Same rare scoring-and-rebounding company. Completely different shape of dominance.

\*Luka's 60-21-10 is here as the most recent verified 50/20 before Wembanyama, not as a 50/20/5+ blocks game. McAdoo is the prior 50/20/5+ blocks night per NBA.com.

If you want the basic vocabulary for a night like this, here's what a double-double is. Wembanyama's line was a double-double with a third column that almost nobody in NBA history has filled at this volume.

02 The Two-Way Case

Scoring 52 while you are 1-for-8 from three is already a tell. He got to the rim (seven dunks, per the AP), lived at the line (19-23), and still controlled the glass. Then he erased possessions: three blocks in a 13-second sequence on the same Dallas trip in the second quarter, per NBA.com.

Best-player arguments that ignore defense are incomplete. Wembanyama does not let you ignore defense. Through eight games he is at 29.0 points, 12.4 rebounds and 4.5 blocks a night, per Land of Basketball's season page (those match the AP numbers cited in OutKick's game wrap). The Spurs are 6-2. They were plus-23 with him on the floor against Dallas.

He also said the quiet part out loud afterward: "I can still do more." He thought his shot was off. He was sick. He rolled the ankle. And the night still looked like this. That is the part that moves me from "future star" to "best player available tonight."

This is not the same claim I made when he was a draft prospect. The old post was about projection. The projection showed up early. The question now is whether anyone else in the league can match both ends on the same possession.

03 The Best Arguments Against Him

I am not going to pretend the other side has nothing.

Luka Doncic is on a scoring heater that looks unfair. On the same night Wembanyama went nuclear, Luka scored 40 in a 116-103 Lakers win over Sacramento — his third straight 40-point game, per AP coverage. I already made my Luka MVP case: if he stays healthy enough to clear 65 games, he can win the award. FanDuel Sportsbook had Luka and Wembanyama tied at +200 as of early November, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at +400 and Nikola Jokic at +900, per FanDuel Research. Luka can outscore almost anyone. He cannot protect the rim the way Wembanyama does. Best player and MVP favorite are related. They are not the same question.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the two-time defending MVP. Voters trust him. Oklahoma City still wins a lot of games with his fingerprints all over them. If the Thunder keep sitting near the top of the West, SGA's case writes itself. My pushback: SGA's brilliance is real, but it is not 52-24-8 with the paint closed behind him. Efficiency and midrange mastery win you a lot of nights. They do not erase what Wembanyama does to the other team's half-court offense.

Nikola Jokic is still Nikola Jokic. Four-time MVP territory, best passer among bigs, gravity that organizes an entire offense. If you define "best" as "highest offensive IQ and creation," Jokic has a lane. I define best as the player I would take for one game if both ends counted. On that definition, Jokic's defense is the tax, and Wembanyama's night was the receipt.

Sample size is the cleanest counter of all. Eight games is eight games. Hot starts fade. I am not handing out the MVP trophy in early November. I am answering a different question: who is the best player in the league *right now*? The tape from Nov. 4, plus the season averages behind it, is enough for me.

04 Why I Still Take Wembanyama

Put the candidates next to each other without dressing it up:

I take Wembanyama because the ceiling on a single possession is higher when he is on the floor. He can end a trip with a block, start the next one with a rebound, and finish it at the rim. Luka can cook you for 40. SGA can pick you apart. Jokic can make five teammates better. Wembanyama can do the rare thing: make the other team worse while he is making his own team better. That +23 against Dallas was not a vibes number. It matched what the eye test said.

The Spurs' six-game streak after an 0-2 start is the team version of the same point. When the best player on the floor is also the best defender on the floor, winning streaks stop looking accidental.

If you are mapping the early calendar around this race, the NBA Cup will stack more nationally televised nights onto it, and how long an NBA game runs is still about two and a half hours of this every tip. Plenty of runway for the counterarguments to catch up. They have not caught up yet.

05 The Bottom Line

Is Wembanyama already the best player in the NBA? Yes.

Not because one box score ended the discussion forever. Because the box score on Nov. 4, 2026 — 52, 24 and 8, while sick, while limping back from a rolled ankle, while his threes would not fall — looked like the best player in the world doing what only he can do. Luka can still win MVP. SGA can still stack hardware. Jokic can still orchestrate circles around everyone. If I am picking one player for a game that matters tonight, I am taking Victor Wembanyama.