Uncharted Territory: Wembanyama Becomes the First Player Since Blocks Were Counted to Average 35 Points and Five Blocks Over Five Games

The NBA has been officially counting blocked shots since the 1973-74 season. In all the years since, through every great center and every shot-swatting forward, no player had ever averaged at least 35 points and five blocks across a five-game stretch. Victor Wembanyama just did it, according to an ESPN statistic highlighted by Newsweek, and he did it while the San Antonio Spurs were stretching their winning streak to 10 games.

The run reads like a highlight reel: 52 points against Dallas, 30 at Sacramento, 29 at Portland, 40 at Phoenix and 32 at Chicago, an average of 36.6 points a night. Wembanyama has been the engine on offense and the wall on defense, and the Spurs have turned into one of the hottest teams in basketball.

The stretch began on Nov. 4 in San Antonio, where Wembanyama set career highs with 52 points and 24 rebounds and added eight blocks in a 112-111 win over the Mavericks, the Associated Press reported. He had 29 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in the first half alone, making him the first player since the play-by-play era began in 1996-97 to reach at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in a single half.

He scored 10 of the Spurs' first 12 points that night. The value of having him on the floor showed in the other direction too. San Antonio was plus-23 with Wembanyama on the court and minus-22 without him, and when he sat early in the second quarter, Dallas ripped off a 12-1 run to pull within 49-48. The Mavericks had a final chance, but Kyrie Irving, who scored 29, missed a contested 15-foot turnaround with three seconds left.

From there, the Spurs went west and kept rolling. In Phoenix, Wembanyama scored 40 points on 15-of-19 shooting with 11 rebounds as San Antonio won 122-96 after leading by as many as 34. Before Wednesday's game in Chicago, the Spurs were 9-2 and unbeaten on the road, and four of their previous five wins had come by 22 points or more, OutKick noted.

Chicago tested them in a different way. The Bulls scored 41 points in the first quarter, led 70-56 at halftime and built their lead to 22. The Spurs answered with defense and patience, outscoring Chicago 68-49 after the break and opening the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run on the way to a 124-119 victory. Wembanyama finished with 32 points, nine rebounds, five blocks and two steals on 13-of-18 shooting, and San Antonio finished its four-game road trip without a loss.

The French daily Le Monde described the French star as a puzzle that rivals have not been able to solve. It is hard to argue. Teams that pack the paint leave him open looks from the perimeter. Teams that crowd him on the perimeter watch him finish over the top. And every shot near the rim has to account for those long arms.

What makes this Spurs streak more than a personal highlight package is the help around him. Guard Dylan Harper posted 18 points and 10 assists in the Chicago comeback, and De'Aaron Fox added 17 points and nine assists. Harper scored 21 in the win over Dallas, and Stephon Castle chipped in 17 points and 10 rebounds. OutKick pointed to a bench built around Julian Champagnie, Keldon Johnson, Tobias Harris and Luke Kornet.

That balance is a credit to how San Antonio has gone about this rebuild. The Spurs did not try to buy a contender overnight. They drafted, developed and waited for their young players to grow together, the kind of patient, team-first approach this franchise has long been known for. When the stars and the role players are all pulling the same direction, a hot streak starts to look like an identity.

For fans who appreciate the game played the right way, this is a fun team to watch. The Spurs defend, share the ball and play hard for four quarters, as the Chicago comeback showed. And in an era when the league's biggest storylines are often about trade demands and load management, a young star simply showing up every night and raising the level of everyone around him is a welcome change.

Ten straight wins in mid-November do not hang a banner. The test now is consistency over the long winter, staying healthy and handling the target that comes with being the team everyone wants to beat. But with Wembanyama playing at a level the league has never recorded before, San Antonio has given the rest of the Western Conference plenty to think about, and every team on the schedule will be drawing up a plan to stop him. So far, no one has found one.