Victor Wembanyama's Summer League debut was not amazing, but great origin stories rarely are

A sellout crowd was on hand to witness Wemby's first game in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- The future of the NBA arrived here in fits and starts Friday night, the mesmerizing magic of Victor Wembanyama mixed with the inevitable reality of a Summer League debut: That it is one game, that the sample size is small and the measurements wholly imprecise, that Rome was not built in a day, and that future kings of any sport do not take their kingdom in the opening acts of their stories.

Wemby was not great, sure, by any box score standard.

But between the missed shots, the clear nerves, the 2-of-13 shooting, and the at-times lackluster play of those around him -- between the general Summer League-ness of Wemby's introduction to the NBA -- were the flashes of greatness and hints of genius that built his hype in the first place.

He was passive, yes. Nervous, absolutely. And often seemed to disengage from being an active participant in the game that was about him and only him.

Yet he still finished with 9 points, 8 rebounds, three assists and five blocks. It was a bad shooting game that in its totality was awesome and that points toward a remarkable career. It was a complicated debut for someone who needs time but, outside of San Antonio, will get very little of it.

And it remains true that, health allowing, the expectation and promise of the kind of player Wembanyama can be, as with LeBron James and Tim Duncan before him, will meld into something wholly real and utterly dominant. 

That much was evident, despite the off-night.

You could see it in the uncanny courtvison and precise passes it generated, despite his teammates flubbing a few would-be assists. In his reach and shot-changing ability. In the gravity, already, he created, and the space it made for his teammates. In the touch he featured on the bucket he made a man his size shouldn't be able to make and, time and again, those that failed to fall. They were still weirdly thrilling to watch.

These little moments, the touchstones to hopefully what's to come, were the day's payoff of the anticipation for his Spurs debut against the Charlotte Hornets. 

In the lead up to the game, it felt special, different, big.

The Thomas Mack & Center had sold out. Media, all the familiar faces of an NBA Finals, had seemed to make the trek to the desert, enough here that aren't routinely to signal this wasn't a normal Summer League game. 

Two days after even Britney Spears had incited a mini-moment of exaggerated pop-culture hysteria because she, too, wanted to be near this phenom, a nearly-19,000 person venue had filled nearly to the brim because so many others wanted to be in his presence as well.

Wemby seemed able to sense the moment, to feel the pull of the energy of the beginning of his NBA career. 

A short time before his game, he appeared in the tunnel, peaking out at the preceding game, his 7-foot-4 frame shocking even across the arena, obscured by a another game, crammed with players around him, his head blocked by a "Boyd Gaming" scoreboard because he was too tall even for his actual entrance. 

When he arrived on the floor a short time later for warm-ups, even Wembanyama's presence in a humdrum layup line seemed beyond belief. His height, his presence, all the promise -- it was a magnet for thousands of eyes.

His game, too, once it began, was bumpy, but beautiful. 

He blocked shots. He pulled down rebounds. He missed his first three attempts, then, on shot No. 4, made a nice kiss of the glass while drawing the foul and a sigh of part-relief, part-excitement from the crowd. Then he proceeded to miss, and miss, and miss again. He hit the floor, hard -- an arena holding its breath -- and then bounced back up. As he surely will from this, one very insignificant but highly scrutinized exhibition basketball game.

He finished the game with that 9-8-3-5 line over 26 minutes. 

It is worth repeating: This game is just a beginning, the tiniest of steps in a career highly anticipated and utterly overwhelming in its potential. 

Years from now, when Wemby is whatever he becomes -- star or cautionary tale, fulfilled hype or something less, Hall of Fame star or a player with another fate -- the Spurs' 76-68 win in Summer League against the Hornets will not matter. 

But it's what we have now.  And it was, for every moment he was on the floor, incredible to watch.