Today on The Whiteboard, Victor Wembanyama’s passing, LeBron James’ shooting, Joel Embiid’s return and more.

Mar 27, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts to a / Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

Today on The Whiteboard, Victor Wembanyama’s passing, LeBron James’ shooting, Joel Embiid’s return and more.

Victor Wembanyama helped the Spurs give the Warriors all they could handle Sunday night before losing, 117-113. But the presumptive Rookie of the Year put up another eye-popping line — 32 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks.

The points, rebounds and disruptive defensive plays have been there since the earliest days of the season but those assist totals are something new. This was his third straight game with at least five assists, and his fourth in the last five contests.

Victor Wembanyama has become a potent distributor

The chart below shows the assist total for every game of Wembanyama’s rookie season chronologically. The recent surge, not just in high numbers but in consistency, is kind of hard to miss.

Wembanyama has had 19 games this season with five assists or more and 13 of them have come since Feb. 1. In his first 40 games, he averaged 3.1 assists per game. Over his next 26 games, he’s averaged 4.5 assists per game.

That may not seem like a huge jump but it’s incredibly significant. In the 3-point era, just 20 centers have averaged four or more assists per game across a full season. No center in that time span has ever done it as a rookie and Brad Daugherty is the only rookie center to average more than the 3.6 assists per game Wembanyama is averaging across the whole season.

Wembanyama’s minutes have increased as the season has gone along but they’ve also been giving him more opportunities to work with the ball in his hands. He’s still far more likely to attack and look to score on elbow touches than he is to set up a teammate but that potential is growing.

We have already been forced to reconcile with the idea of Wembanyama as a generational defensive anchor and scorer, with elite finishing ability and 3-point range in a 7-foot-4 frame. But imagining Jokic- or Sabonis-style playmaking on top of that, the ability to function as a facilitation hub in addition to his scoring, could put him on another level.

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Mar 1, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Injured Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid smiles / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Joel Embiid is back

When Joel Embiid went down with a meniscus injury in January, it wasn’t clear if the 76ers would have him back this season. Now it seems they’ll actually get him back before the end of the regular season in time to ramp up for a playoff run. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported today that Embiid could be back as early as Tuesday night against the Thunder.

The 76ers have seven more games on the schedule and need to jump both the Heat and the Pacers, whom they trail by two full games in the standings, to escape the Play-In Tournament. Embiid has long since missed out on award eligibility so his return is all about establishing as solid a postseason position as possible and building rhythm and fitness for what comes next.