Henderson, Nevada is the site of one of the most unique prospect matchups in recent basketball history this week. On Tuesday, Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson squared off as the G League Ignite played host to Metropolitans 92, and after the Ignite came out on top, the two sides are going to run it back on Thursday afternoon.
It’s a rare matchup between the presumed top-2 prospects in an upcoming draft, made even more rare by the fact that it’s happening outside of college basketball. Like many of us, LeBron James tuned into the first game, and following the Los Angeles Lakers’ preseason tilt against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night, gave his thoughts on the “generational” French big man.
“What do I think of him? I think probably the same as everybody else thinks,” James said. “Everybody, we’re labeling this unicorn thing, everybody’s been a unicorn over the last few years. He’s more like an alien. No one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is, but as fluid and as graceful as he is on the floor at 7’4, or 7’5, or 7’3, whatever the case may be. His ability to put the ball on the floor, shoot step-back jumpers out of the post, step-back threes, catch-and-shoot threes, block shots, he’s for sure a generational talent and hopefully he continues to stay healthy, that’s what’s most important.”
James went on to say that both Wembanyama and Henderson are “big-time” players, then lamented about how fortunate he was to have gone through life as an all-time prospect in a “small town” that kept him “locked in” before the era of social media.
The second game between Wembanyama and Henderson will take place on Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2.